Paladin
KC Hill
Craig Hill
Oracle of DelphiFerrari P4/5
February 5th 2008 17:24
The Ferrari P4/5 (officially known as the Ferrari P4/5 by Pininfarina) is a one-off Sports Car made by Italian sports car manufacturer Ferrari but redesigned by Pininfarina for film director and stock exchange magnate James Glickenhaus. The car was an Enzo Ferrari but the owner James Glickenhaus preferred the styling of Ferrari's 1960s race cars, the P Series. The project cost Glickenhaus US$ 4 million and was officially presented to the public in August 2006 at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elégance, but in July 2006 some images were leaked and Glickenhaus allowed Ultimate Car Page to show the early designs.
James Glickenhaus, stock exchange magnate and known car collector, was approached by Pininfarina who asked if he was interested in commissioning a one-off car. Andrea Pininfarina, grandson of the company’s founder later said "The Ferrari 612 Kappa and this P4/5 are the first. But we want to grow this business." indicating that Pininfarina is interested in producing other unique cars. Glickenhaus replied that he would like a modern Ferrari P and in June of that year he signed a contract with Pininfarina to produce the car including the price, approximately US$4 million though in an interview he said "I feel they gave me more than I expected". Glickenhaus purchased the last unsold Enzo Ferrari and upon receipt of the car he took it to Pininfarina to be redesigned similar to the 1967 Ferrari 330 P4 which he also delivered to Pininfarina. Pininfarina's styling team leader, Ken Okuyama said that "Pininfarina wanted to stay away from retro design and move towards a more forward thinking supercar" as they were excited by the opportunity to build the car, not just design it.
Its design began in September 2005 with sketches by Jason Castriota moving through computer aided sculpture and stringent wind tunnel testing.More than 200 components were designed especially for the car though the engine, drivetrain and many other components are simply modified from the original Enzo Ferrari.The Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) is unchanged from the Enzo it was derived from. The P4/5 was publicly revealed on August 18, 2006 at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elégance and shown again at the Paris Motor Show in late September.
Upon seeing P 4/5 Luca di Montezemolo felt that the car deserved to be officially badged as a Ferrari and along with Andrea Pininfarina and James Glickenhaus agreed that it's official name would be "Ferrari P 4/5 by Pininfarina". Ted West wrote an article in "Car and Driver" about how this came to be: "The Beast of Turin".
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