The “sculpted” metallic base with a double H pattern, from which a delicate stem surmounted by a sphere, both in metal, was one of the most accomplished details — a brand image, even… — and appreciated in the interiors of many of the Ferrari equipped with manual gearbox.
What better visual expression for this type of transmission than bare material and the pure form of its constituent parts? We still don't think…
It would be the incessant search for more performance that would dictate its end — it's impossible for us humans to get through relationships as quickly as the best double-clutch gearboxes do without even needing us.
It would be in 2012 that we would see the last of the Ferrari equipped with a manual gearbox leave the scene. It was in this year that the Ferrari 599 GTB (coupe with V12 front) saw its career come to an end, but despite a manual gearbox being part of its many specs, this was not the last Ferrari to bring a manual gearbox.
The last of the… last
This honor fell to the Ferrari California , yes, that same one. Perhaps the least Ferrari less Ferrari we've known in recent years, at least to believe in the words of its ill-fated CEO Sergio Marchionne:
The car I had the most difficulties with was the California. I bought two and I really liked the first [1st generation], but it's the only car, from an identity point of view, that I have a hard time seeing as a real Ferrari. (...)
It has to be contextualized. The Ferrari California was widely criticized in the media for being excessively smooth, unrepresentative of what was expected of a Ferrari. The truth is that the California was looking to attract another type of clientele, more used to the comfort and convenience of a Mercedes-Benz SL than to the focus and aggressiveness of a Maranello model.
However, despite the criticism, the California was still a milestone… in the brand.
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It meant a series of firsts, such as being the first Ferrari with a V8 at the front, or the first with a metal roof, among others — we'll be right there —; and ended up becoming one of the most successful Ferraris ever. 8000 copies of the California were sold, a number that rises above 17 000 if we add the deeply revised California T.
However, the feeling of irony is strong. Not only was it the last of the Ferraris equipped with a manual gearbox, it was the first of the Ferraris to come equipped with a dual-clutch gearbox. — precisely the transmission that would seal “for ever and ever” the fate of manual transmission in the brand.
The saddest thing is to see how the manual gearbox was no longer considered by Ferrari customers (and not only). Despite its availability, out of the 8000 California units sold, only three (3) to five (5) units were produced with manual gearbox (according to various sources).
I will repeat and emphasize: at most, just a handful of Ferrari California with manual gearbox were sold, a total of 8000! How is it possible!?
Of course, Ferrari didn't even bother to persist in this option when it made known the first revision to the California, in 2012 — it became known as California 30, for coming with more 30 hp and less 30 kg in weight. From that moment on, Ferrari, whatever it was, only with a double clutch gearbox, a recipe that remains until today.
Revenge?
Well, such is the rarity of Ferrari units with manual transmissions in this century — not just the California — that the few who have bought new ones have seen their cars value much more than their equivalents with automatic transmissions.
Even the California… In 2016 a rare Ferrari California was auctioned off with the protruding handle (it's the unit you can see in the images), having reached an absurd value of 393 360 euros — more, way more than it was worth in new, and 3x more than California automatic.
About “The Last of the…”. The automobile industry is going through its biggest period of change since the automobile… was invented. With significant changes constantly happening, with this item we intend not to lose the "thread to the skein" and record the moment when something ceased to exist and went down in history to (very likely) never come back, whether in the industry, in a brand, or even in a model.