Cars And Track Staff
It was a hot summer day in the first week of August and like most Americans I was taking some well deserved vacation time to hit the beach, and of course the first thing I did was hit the popular auction sites to see what new amazing finds were available. Since a recent trip to Italy I had become enamored with all things Ferrari, and had been calculating a way to get into what I had always seen as the pinnacle enthusiast brand. It seems like unlike me, many auto enthusiasts take a break from chasing their dream cars in August, and an auction for a Ferrari 456 seemed to be languishing.
I had become aware of the 456 after reading Mike Tyson’s biography and seeing a pic of the 456 next to the F50 he ended up crashing through a convenience store. An F50 goes for about 5-9 million, but there were 456’s available for $50k (the average cost of a new car in 2026). Sure those were all automatics, with the manual going for an outrageous premium, but a V12 Ferrari, that at the time was the 2nd fastest production car in the world (Carrera GT in case you were wondering) seemed like it would be worth following. Everything I read said that they were criminally undervalued and sneered at by true Ferrari enthusiasts.
Back to the auction. Here was a car with 42k miles owned by Boyd Coddington, an American hot rod designer, the owner of the Boyd Coddington Hot Rod Shop, and star of American Hot Rod on TLC. I figured because the auction was languishing at $40k this must be an automatic, but looking at the pictures I saw the gear shift and confirmed the presence of a clutch pedal.
Like many enthusiasts with dreamsI had bid on cars on bringatrailer.com but was always outbid. I started following this auction and on the last day took my shot. The bids were stuck at $52,456, too cute of a number to let stand, so I threw in a bid of 52,956, and with 20 minutes left I was in the game. I started doing some mental math. I am not a hedge fund manager or other 3%er. Just a middle class salesman, certainly not your typical Ferrari owner, but I saved up some money, and I loved the idea of not paying the equivalent of nearly $300 a month in Virginia personal property tax if I could get a car that could be titled as a classic.
I also learned during the pandemic that if you buy the right cars depreciation can be avoided, sure you will have repair bills, but certain older cars didn’t seem to lose value. With 20 minutes to go, I was soon outbid, I figured if I jump back in, it will be at the absolute last minute with a strong bid.
It seemed like the well preserved 456 manuals were six figure cars, and while this one needed a belt service, this generation did not require an engine out servicing, and the belts were serviced a whole 2,000 miles ago. They had to last longer than that, right? Seemed like the guys in the forums were going five years/30k miles, how worn out could the belts be? The auction ticked down and I took my shot, $64k. A lot of money to spend on a car, but it’s not like there were ever going to be manual V12’s made again, and Ferrari’s for the most part, seem to both hold their value AND be on the upswing.
The auction ticked down and PhilthyPhil after being a buyer at $60k and $62k gave up. I was the winner! But wait a minute, the auction said Reserve Not Met. I was off the hook if I wanted to be, but I started thinking about it. Wasn’t a manual V12 Ferrari with provenance as valuable as money in the bank? It was the drivable equivalent of a gold bar.
Back on the auction, the seller said he would be reaching out to me, the high bidder, and I figured I would tell him he had my high bid. I talked to my wife about it. She is as big of a car nut as me, and she agreed that we would not see an opportunity to own a car like this at a price we could afford.
The seller called and he told me that he was willing to be reasonable, but the car was on consignment. I had noticed that the owner bought the car for $77k (+fees) on Bring A Trailer like 18 months ago, and when I searched he seemed to be liquidating his car collection, as in addition to this vehicle he had been selling a SRT Jeep Cherokee over on carsandbids.com, so something was up.
The dealer turned out to be a real nice guy and had lived in my home town until recently. He didn’t try to talk me into it, just gave me the facts, and that they had a plan b buyer in the wings. I asked what the number was, and he said he could probably make it happen for $68k, and he would even handle the shipping. I figured I could find a way to swing it, you only live once!
After arranging for insurance with Hagerty’s with an $80k replacement value for a whopping $50 a month, I was ready (classic car insurance is awesome). The car arrived in the middle of the night, and I was apprehensive. They say never meet your heroes, and while I had been blessed with opportunities in the past to drive Ferrari’s, it had been awhile.
As soon as it got unloaded from the enclosed car carrier my wife and I took off. The road feel, the speed, the sound, the smell were all other-worldly. It drove unlike anything I have ever driven. Every one that has driven it agrees that is indescribable. I am always more than happy to let others drive my cars. Other’s have been kind to me in the past and I believe in paying it forward, so if you see me out at Cars and Coffee, it doesn’t hurt to ask.
