Unveiled to great fanfare and celebration from the tifosi, the 550 Maranello marked a return to Ferrari’s glory days. Bringing back the classical grand tourer formula of a two-seater, front-engined V12, the 550 Maranello offered world beating performance in a highly usable package. Its 5.5-liter engine produced 478 bhp, propelling the car to 62 mph from a standstill in 4.4 seconds, and onwards to a top speed of 199 mph. Penned by Pininfarina, its classical performance harkend back to the great Ferrari GT cars of the 1950s and 1960s, returing Ferrari to its roots in advance of the 21st century. Utilizing engineering derived from the early days of the Michael Schumacher era in the Formula 1 program, the 550 Maranello has widely been recognized as one of the best engineered road coupes from this era.

This example was delivered new to first owner David Hoff of Dallas, Texas via Ferrari of Dallas on September 15, 1998. Built for the 1999 model year, it was finished in Blue Tour de France over a Sabbia leather interior, a very rare and striking color combination. The car remained with the first owner in Texas for nearly the first seven years of its life, before being sold to its second enthusiast owner in Lincoln, Massachusetts in 2005. In 2007 the car was sold to its third owner in Wellesley, Massachusetts before being acquired by its most recent custodian in Merrimack, New Hampshire just before Christmas in 2009. Service receipts on file from the Ferrari specalists at The Boston Sports Car Company show that it was regularly looked after by them from 2006-2010, before it moved with the most recent owner to New Hampshire, where it remained for over a decade. Importantly, the car is finishing a fresh service at Gran Touring Classics including new belts, replacement of all “sticky” buttons and fresh tires.

With twelve-cyldiner Ferraris sure to become a thing of the past with increasingly stringent environmental regulations, its no surprise that models like the 550 Maranello are seeing heightened levels of interest in the market. Bridging the gap between older, more analog Ferrari’s like the 365 GTB/4 Daytona and the ultra-modern 812 Superfast, the 550 Maranello offers analog thrills in a platform that is modern and practical enough to be used on a regular basis with ease.

Nearly a quarter century old, these cars are truly wonderful cars to drive and enjoy, and will certainly become a mainstay of the ‘youngtimer’ market for years to come. Well-kept, low milage examples are becoming more difficult to find, and this example presented in rare and tasteful colours should not be overlooked.