Launched in 1987, the Ferrari F40 it is one of the most iconic models of the Maranello brand and one of the best known supercars ever.
Born to celebrate Ferrari's 40th birthday, the Italian model saw 1,315 units off the production line — a substantial number, whereas nowadays it's more common to see productions limited to a few hundred units of other supercars.
To cheer up what is considered by many to be «the best Ferrari of all times» we found a V8 engine, twin-turbo with 2.9 l of capacity that debited 478 hp at 7000 rpm and 577 Nm of torque at 4000 rpm , numbers that allowed it to reach 320 km/h or 200 mph — the first production car to achieve it.
Now, whether because of its overwhelming performance, its rarity or the simple fact that it is a Ferrari, the idea of having an abandoned F40 example seems something only possible in the world of imagination. However, there appears to be evidence to the contrary.
The Ferrari F40 of Saddam Hussein's son
The first time that news emerged that the Ferrari F40 that had belonged to Uday Hussein, son of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, was in 2012.
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At that time, sites like Carsales or Carbuzz reported that the car would be in a workshop in Erbil at the start of the second Gulf War in 2003.
As the conflict escalates, retrieving his Ferrari F40 should have been among Uday Hussein's last concerns — allegedly, it was around this time that he also burned his individual car collection.
Uday Hussein, the "ace of hearts" on the US hit list, would be killed in 2003 in an attack by US military forces.
Since then the car will have been abandoned. Now, eight years after having heard for the first time about this F40, news has returned that the exclusive transalpine model is still abandoned.
Here is proof that this F40 is not a replica.
According to websites such as Automoto and Jornal dos Classicos, Uday Hussein's Ferrari F40 remains abandoned, lying idle at a gas station.
Whether it is true or not, there is no way to know for the time being, and it may have been the case that the story has resurfaced on the internet, with some of the images used in these reports being the same captured in 2012.
Did it hold up well over time?
Assuming the Ferrari F40 remains abandoned and some of the images we're looking at are current, then we can even assume that this specimen appears to be reasonably preserved.
Despite being quite dirty, the truth is that this example of the first Ferrari produced using carbon fiber and Kevlar does not seem, at first sight, very badly treated.
The interior already shows the passage of time and lack of care. There are broken gauges, a lot of dust and the steering wheel is not the original.
The tires are still inflated (one of the reasons that lead us to believe that this F40 may not be idle) and only the steering wheel and the water tank are not standard — the latter, as you can see, features the brand of… Nissan!.
Here's the famous twin-turbo V8. Does it still catch?
Taking into account the general condition of this Ferrari F40, we hope that if it's still abandoned, someone will end up “taking it in” and recover it, a task that doesn't seem to be very complex… if you're a specialist.
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