Image via Complex Original
All Ferraris are special machines. All of them inspire strong feelings, impress drivers with their capabilities, and have a certain aura about them. Some Ferraris do all of these things more than the others, and they are the Limited-Edition Special Series. These are the hypercars that adorned every gasoline sniffing boy's bedroom wall, and occupied more magazine inches than anything else.
Yeah, we're obsessed with the Complete History of Ferrari's Limited-Edition Special Series.
288 GTO
Year Introduced: 1984
Number Produced: 273
Sticker Price: $85,000
Engine: 2.8L Twin-Turbo V8
Power: 400 hp
Torque: 366 lb-ft
Signature Feature: Homologated for Group B rally.
The 1984-1985 Ferrari 288 GTO was only the second Ferrari to be dubbed Gran Turismo Omologato, as it was homlogated for Group B rally. Sadly, the FIA cancelled the Groub B class due to a number of high-profile, fatal accidents. As a result, the 288 GTO never got to race. It did, however, absolutely destroy roads and tracks around the world.
F40
Year Introduced: 1987
Number Produced: 1,315
Sticker Price: $470,000
Engine: 2.9L Twin-Turbo V8
Power: 478 hp
Torque: 425 lb-ft
Signature Feature: An aerodynamic design with reduced drag and added downforce
The 288 GTO Evoluzione was an experimental car that was to be Enzo Ferrari's legacy, but the dissolution of Group B meant that it never got its proper glory. The Evoluzione program then evolved into Ferrari's hypercar program, in which the company built some of the most technologically advanced road cars ever made. The F40 was the the first of these marvels of engineering.
F50
Year Introduced: 1995
Number Produced: 349
Sticker Price: $480,000-$550,000
Engine: 4.7L V12
Power: 513 hp
Torque: 347 lb-ft
Signature Feature: The engine was taken from the 333 SP race car and built on F1 architecture.
The F40 was a fantastic way for Ferrari to celebrate its 40th anniversary and an amazing car for the agin founder, Enzo Ferrari, to have unveiled. However, by 1995, on the company's 50th anniversary, technology had marched on, and a new hypercar was needed. The F50 was more extroverted than either of its successors, given its convertible body style and slightly more flamboyant styling, but it was no less capable. It was the first special series to house a V12 engine.
Enzo
Year Introduced: 2002
Number Produced: 399
Sticker Price: $659,330
Engine: 6.0L V12
Power: 651 hp
Torque: 485 lb-ft
Signature Feature: The F1 tech, and F1 pointy nose.
The Enzo had two pairs of big shoes to fill: those of the F50 and those of its namesake, Ferrari's revered founder, Enzo Ferrari. That's why the engineers crammed as much F1 technology into the Enzo as they possibly could, like the paddle-shifted transmission and carbon-ceramic brakes, and then continued on to technologies that had been banned from F1, like active aerodynamics and traction control. The car is nothing short of legendary, and is still one of the fastest cars ever made.
LaFerrari
Year Introduced: 2013
Number to be Produced: 499
Sticker Price: Estimated id="mce_marker".3 Million
Engine: 6.3L V12 with a HY-KERS Electric Motor
Power: 949 hp
Torque: 663 lb-ft
Signature Feature: The hybrid drivetrain and the silly-ass name
We've been waiting to see how Ferrari would surpass the amazing Enzo for a long time, and at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show, we finally found out. Like the competitors McLaren and Porsche's new supercars, LaFerrari is a hybrid, and this is more for performance than efficiency. Electric motors are at 100 percent torque from zero RPMs, and that helps this insane hypercar get to 60 mph in less than three seconds and on to 120 mph in less than seven. We just can't wait to really see what it can do on the track.
