Collector of automobile art looking for expert opinion on purchase of F40 artwork | FerrariChat

Collector of automobile art looking for expert opinion on purchase of F40 artwork

Discussion in 'Creative Arts' started by Connoisseur_Eddie, May 13, 2021.

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  1. Connoisseur_Eddie

    May 13, 2021
    6
    Full Name:
    Eddie Miller
    Dear members of the international Ferrari Community,

    I am a passionated collector of automobiles and – as may also be the case for the one or another member of this forum – also of artwork related to more exotic/rare cars (due to space and money limitations if it comes to models like an F40 or Enzo ).

    Therefore, I have been pretty excited some months ago when a fellow and brother-in-spirit of mine told me that he wants to sell an artwork involving a genuine F40 piston and cylinder barrel due to discussions with his wife on his passion for collecting… I immediately made the deal and had an intense feeling of having taken one of these rare chances to get in possession of something very special – however, later on a conversation in another, local Ferrari forum planted some doubts in my brain. Therefore, I thought I may find some expert opinion here that can help me feeling satisfied with my prey again

    Not to waste our time, here some key facts about the item:

    The artwork is consisting of a set of a genuine F40 piston and cyclinder barrel. These are presented on two holders made of ebony wood with a real impressive surface structure and color.

    The engine parts are coming from an F40 that has been adopted to race specs in Germany in the 1990s and ran about 8.000 km in there before. The condition of the parts is very nice – you can see that they acutally did their great job in that astonishing engine on the one hand, but they are very well preserved on the other hand. They have not been mechanically polished or over-restored to destroy the signs of duty but have only been dry-ice blasted to remove that too much of oil residues. The cross-hedged finish (is that the appropriate wording in English?) of the cylinder barrel is well preserved and visible.

    As this set has been created in a limited edition and the limitation in the number of sets created comes from the fact that an F40 engine has 8 cylinders, there have been (or will be?) only 8 sets sold worldwide. The set came with a certificate to gurantee that and it is presented in a very attractive deep-black box with laser engraved stainless steel badge stating the name of the artwork „Enzo’s Legacy“. Everything looks very sophisticated and made of high-quality materials. So I have been very happy with my purchase and indulged in intense collector’s feelings when inspecting it in detail at home

    After some days however, I got aware of a strange discussion on the set that I bought in a German Ferrari Chatroom in which the value of such artwork was discussed very rude and it was put in a pretty negative context.

    Since then, I have some doubts if I could have overestimated the value of this artwork and if I would be the only one that is that excited about this combination of the technical cooleness of the F40 engine parts with the warm ebony wood and other features that accelarate my heartbeat while others may look at it like it was some overpriced steel clumps paired with firewood?!

    I mean, I was very surprised about the discussion taking place on the general value of such an artwork – as there are basically comparable items available where e.g. Schedoni put a much more available piston on a +/- attractive leather pillow and asks a pretty high rate for it. Of course, a small German boutique specializing on the manufacture of limited editions of automobile artwork is different to a company like the one cited above and that is officially cooperating with Ferrari – but does that make such a difference when it comes to the rarity and emotions of such artwork?

    Hope I did not bother you with my lengthy tale – but any feedback and opinion from you Ferrari (lifestyle) experts is highly appreciated! Especially I would be very thankful if there are also opinions that help me enjoy my beloved collectible again

    Thanks for your patience!

    Kind regards,

    Eddie


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  2. tritone

    tritone F1 Veteran
    Silver Subscribed

    Dec 8, 2003
    6,863
    On the Rock
    Full Name:
    James
    Is the chassis number of this particular F40 recorded as part of the piece? Also the engine serial number? Seems a must-have to me.....
     
  3. Connoisseur_Eddie

    May 13, 2021
    6
    Full Name:
    Eddie Miller
    Hi James,

    thanks a lot for the feedback!
    The chassis number is known but neither of the numbers is directly available on the engine parts (stupid to write for sure).
    What I really like is that pistons and cylinder barrels are numbered from factory re the cylinder number and this stamp is of course available on the parts. My set is belonging to cylinder no. 4. One can see the small "4" within the combustion cavity in the pic attached.
    There are other information like production date and similar visible (ink), I will again check what information exactly.

    Kind regards,
    Eddie

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  4. tstuli

    tstuli Formula Junior

    Jun 12, 2018
    370
    NC
    Looks really cool to me. I'm assuming you paid what you thought it was worth and so wouldn't care what others think. It doesn't sound like you bought it to flip it for profit, so keep it and enjoy it.

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  5. Connoisseur_Eddie

    May 13, 2021
    6
    Full Name:
    Eddie Miller
    Hi tstuli,
    Yes, you're right for sure and I really appreciate your feedback!
    And I would also never think about which exteriour/interiour color combo might help to recover most of the money when selling a car later on as many other do. I only buy things that comply with snd satisfy my individual taste.
    Nevertheless, I like the good feeling that collectibles I own have a certain value - just for the case I should come over another item that I like even more and I want to switch :)
    Nice to hear that you like the assembly!
    Kind regards,
    Eddie
     
  6. Connoisseur_Eddie

    May 13, 2021
    6
    Full Name:
    Eddie Miller
    Thanks a lot for pointing out, James!
    These items look nice and in my opinion the price is fair. I like the carbon holder of the first piston.
    The thing is, I am not really into F1 parts, it is a personal point of view. I am not as much excited by F1 as you can of course achieve a lot when you spend outragous money and have to adhere to some FIA rules and drive on specially prepared tarmac... I am much more fascinated by high-performance cars that stretch the legal regulations and are able to outperform the others on regular streets.
    That makes cars like the F40 so impressive for me. And that also why I decided to buy the F40 set although it is not produced/certified by Ferrari themselves, as they do not offer any similar set to the best of my knowledge. I am aware of a Testerossa piston on Schedoni leather but not much more similar items.
    I have been crazy enough to pay a bit more then is asked for the F1 pistons, though... I paid the F40 displacement calculated in ccm in Euros :)
    Cheers,
    Eddie
     
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