Back in Black

No other marque is so inextricably linked to the story of its creator as Ferrari. Built from little more than the will to win and a desire to be the best, the marque has grown from tuning and preparing Alfa Romeo’s pre-war stable to become the world’s leading manufacturer of roadgoing sports cars, each success owed almost exclusively to Enzo Ferrari himself. The final hypercar built under his direction, the F40, pushed the boundaries of performance further than ever before, becoming the most iconic car of its generation. It would take fourteen years since his passing for a machine to come along that was worthy of dedicating to Enzo Ferrari’s memory.

Such were the car’s game changing levels of technology and performance that the Enzo wasn’t just dedicated to the great man, it was named after him. The Enzo’s beating heart was an all-new naturally aspirated 6 litre V12 engine, with 650 hp that totally eclipsed that of its rivals.

The rest of the car was every inch as special as the characterful drivetrain, which was housed in a cutting-edge chassis formed of carbon fibre and aluminium, and clothed in carbon composite body panels straight from the pen of Pininfarina’s Ken Okuyama. Shaped by both extensive wind tunnel testing and the all-conquering grand prix car that had delivered Michael Schumacher to world championship after world championship, the futuristic design stepped away from the enormous rear wing that had marked its predecessor, the F50, and instead focused on delivering downforce through subtle ground-effect aerodynamics.

The Enzo was introduced at a time in Ferrari’s history when the colour palate for road cars was still quite limited, especially compared to current Ferrari offerings. The vast majority of the examples were painted either red, yellow or black, with a handful of other cars selected in different shades of blue, silver, grey or white. While some of these colours were rare, it took very special influence and customer standing in order to be allowed to select a true one-off colour during this era and it was only fitting that such a car was specified by a member of the royal family of Brunei, with a rich history in ordering factory one-offs and bespoke automobiles. With Nero Opaco (Matte Black) being one of the most popular Tailor Made colours in today’s market, it is nearly unthinkable that almost two decades ahead of its time, this Enzo was the very first Ferrari hypercar delivered new by the Factory in this striking colour.

Construction began in June 2004, with the finished car leaving Maranello’s workshops in October of that year. The groundbreaking hypercar was uniquely specified with Nero Opaco paintwork over a matching Nero leather interior with Nero carpets. This incredible triple black specification was further personalized with large-sized seats and Rosso instruments. The one-off car was kept at the family’s London residence, where it made the occasional fleeting appearance rolling with menace around the streets of Hampstead, Mayfair and Knightsbridge, before later being brought over to the Asia-Pacific region.

This one-of-a-kind 2004 Ferrari Enzo will be auctioned via Sotheby’s Sealed held between the 5th-7th December 2022. Photos © The Movimage Company / RM Sotheby’s