Enzo Ferrari, the legend that he was, once commented along the lines of ‘a Ferrari is the engine, and the car comes for free’. Ferrari V12’s are among the most wonderful engines in the world, crafted carefully and expertly, revered for their potency, so when you buy a Ferrari 456M – to my eyes one of the prettiest of the latter-day Ferrari’s – you don’t swap the jewel of a V12 for a Toyota 2JZ straight 6, do you?
You do if you’re a guy called Phil from California, who bought the car for daily use, including a 100-mile round trip to and from work. So, what was the problem; was the engine blown, had the car been crashed? No, neither of these apply; he simply figured that the V12 Ferrari engine may cause him problems with the type of running he needed to do, so dropped in a Toyota 2JZ instead. The question is – why buy a Ferrari in the first place?
Up For Sale
Phil’s first attempt involved a 2JZ engine fitted with a turbocharger, which he mated to the standard Ferrari 4-speed automatic. It worked but with problems, so he bought a written-off Lexus GS300, and swapped the entre drivetrain. He sold the V12, gave away the gearbox, created his own custom mounts, put in the differential and all the emissions stuff, and had his perfect car.
Or he would have done, had he not taken a dislike to the Ferrari 456M pop-up light treatment, and changed them for a set of lights from a Toyota Celica. The result is a car that, in fact, doesn’t look bad, but simply doesn’t make sense – unless you’re Phil!
The car has come to light as it is currently advertised on eBay for sale – not from Phil, but from a later owner – for the asking price of $45,000 (at the time of writing, that’s about £34,000). If it takes your fancy, there is not going to be another one like this!
Images Copyright of: eBay.
