Those who are headed south for the Cavallino event this weekend, may be lucky enough to see this elegant one-off Ferrari Sessanta (sixty in Italian). In the past, Ferrari has capitalized on major anniversary dates to unveil a super car like the F-40 and the F-50. However, for its 60th year a special edition of the 612 Scaglietti was produced, which by sheer numbers is the rarest of them all….only 60 were made, with less than 15 for the U.S. and only our feature car has a white on white color scheme.
Ferrari built 1311 examples of the F40 for the 40th anniversary, but only 60 of the 612 Sessantas.
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The story of the Sessanta began early last year when Ferrari initiated a 50 country around the world relay starting in Abu Dhabi on January 28, 2007. For the occasion, Ferrari commissioned a special Olympic type relay baton to be carried by Ferrari owners around the world. In addition to the requisite prancing horse, this baton contains 60 enameled images representing a major event from each of the years since Enzo Ferrari opened the factory gates in 1947. In fact, the Ferrari Company hired six different creative teams and artists and charged each to develop ten iconic images of Ferrari history.
60th anniversary around the world relay is highlight on map.
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Ferrari owners were invited in various regions around the world to participate in a leg of the journey of the baton as it criss-crossed the globe terminating in a major celebration last June 24th in Modena. This author participated in one of the USA relays in the northeast US. It was there that Ferrari North America’s President, Maurizio Parlato, hosted a particularly well attended event that took place in late March and began with Breakfast at the famous Tavern on the Green in Manhattan, New York. The next stop was a fabulous luncheon at the Winterthur Museum near Wilmington, Delaware and then the relay proceeded further south ending that evening with a gala reception at the Italian Embassy in Washington, D.C.
Ferraris were invited to the Italian Embassy in Washington D.C.
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The climax of this year long celebration was the production of a special car. Announced earlier in the year but shown for the first time at the Tehama Golf Resort during the annual Pebble Beach car week, Ferrari revealed their plan for a limited run of 60 special 612 Scagliettis named the Sessanta. The lucky buyers were hand picked right at the upper echelon of Ferrari management in Italy. One might feel deserving, but until you got the phone call, you never quite knew if you were worthy.
Glass sunroof is similar to that of the 612 "K".
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This special car boasts a glass roof to allow more sunlight to enter the 2+2 cabin. The glass roof feature reminds us of the 612 K which well known collector,
Peter Kalikow
had incorporated in his one-off Pininfarina special which we revealed in a January 24, 2007 story in VeloceToday.com. In addition, these cars receive a diamond pleated interior reminiscent of the early 1960s 250 GT Lussos. Ferrari first decided that there would be only two special paint schemes from which the lucky buyers could chose, Grey over Black or Red metallic over Black metallic. Early on it became apparent that these hand picked buyers were more creative and therefore, Ferrari allowed each to choose their own color scheme in two-tone or monochromatic.
Carbon fiber panels are one of the few surfaces in a color other than white.
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The car which is the subject of this story is owned by a well known Ferrari collector who splits his time between New Jersey and Florida. Originally, he decided on a two-tone Blue paint combination. However, having done both a 430 Spider and a 599 GTB in a Yellow on Yellow specification, he decided that this special car was going to make a real statement in White on White.
Stitching pattern recalls that of the 250GT Lusso.
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In fact, during the planning process he decided that neither Ferrari white nor Maserati white was quite bright enough for his tastes. Finally, it was agreed that the car would be produced in Rolls-Royce Arctic White with matching white leather and carpeting. The only colors on the interior besides the carbon fiber are the Bordeaux safety belts and stitching, which was also used to custom embroider the prancing horse on the headrests.
The 2002 Graphic represents the Schumacher 2002 Formula 1 car which is also owned by the client.
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Interestingly, each one of the 612 Sessantas is adorned with one of the aforementioned graphic images reproduced on a small badge located in the center of the console. To the degree possible, Ferrari has tried to link this graphic with the selected buyer. In the case of Peter Kalikow, Ferrari gave him the 1957 badge depicting the 250 GT California Spyder since he has a beautiful, award winning Spyder in his collection. The owner of this white Sessanta has among his wide ranging Ferrari collection an Enzo and the Michael Schumacher 2002 Formula 1 World Championship racecar. Therefore, Ferrari decided to give him the Sessanta sporting the 2002 graphic containing both those major milestones in their history.
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The Sessanta is a special car which will be coveted for many generations, but this unique white 612 will always stand out even in that elite group. Be sure to look for this car this Saturday, January 26 at the Cavallino Classic in Palm Beach to see all of the beautiful details for yourself. If you are lucky, the owner might even bring his matching white on white 599 GTB!
