Ferrari F40 found again in Iraq
This F40 has a very interesting and special history. It once belonged to Udai Hussein, the son of dictator Saddam Hussein. After the F40 was considered lost for years, it has now reappeared!
It all started with “Rattarossa”, a British YouTuber and Ferrari collector. The automotive enthusiast is the owner of a Ferrari 355 Spider, a custom built Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale, a Ferrari 308 and a run-down Testarossa Spider, which he affectionately refers to as the “Rattarossa”.
Despite the nice Ferrari collection he already has – his dream car has always been the Ferrai F40. He once almost got his hands on one, but unfortunately the deal bursted and since then prices for F40s has been exploded. Nevertheless, he doesn’t give up. He heard about the abandoned Ferrari F40 in Iraq and started a challenge to track the car down to get more information about it and eventually buy it.
The hunt for “the holy grale of Ferrari” went viral and also-YouTuber and car enthusiast “Salomondrin” stepped in and posted a 1000$ reward for finding the lost F40.
What he found about the history of the Ferrari F40 is just mind-blowing.
When the war began in the 90s, the F40 was, according to insiders, in a workshop in the Iraqi city of Erbil and was simply forgotten. The consequence: The 478 hp strong F40 rotted for several years in the scorching heat. Udai Hussein was a huge car fan and collector and rumour has it that he owned over 1000 cars. When the troops marched in, he allegedly ordered the cars to be set on fire before they could be confiscated. But several cars were apparently spared, because there are pictures of a Porsche 911 (993), a Ferrari Testarossa, a Lamborghini LM002 and the said Ferrari F40. Why exactly these vehicles were spared is unclear.
Due to the sand and the climate conditions, the Ferrari F40 was is terrible condition. The Ferrari F40 was covered in sand inside and outside and dust and parts were either broken or completely missing. From Mazan Amin, a friend of the F40’s owner today, “Rattarossa” learned that the car was then shipped to Turkey to be rebuilt. But when the shopowner discovered what he has been working on, he didn’t want to return the car. Mazan’s friend eventually got the F40 back, but even more parts were missing.
But they didn’t want to give up getting the Ferrari F40 on the road again. Mazan got in touch with the guys from Gas Monkey Garage. They had recently rebuilt an F40 crash car as part of their TV show. Gas Monkey Garage was interrested, but since they could not enter Iraq as US citizens, they sent their British colleague Chris in 2016. But since the logistics to ship the F40 out of Iraq was simply too complicated, Gas Monkey Garage had to step back eventually.
Sometime after Chris’ visit in 2016, the owner must have flown in a Begian Ferrari specialist for an other rebuilt attempt. The F40 had only run for 3764 km (about 2 339 mi) by that time. It was until the end of 2019, when the F40 reappeared – already in a partly restored condition. There is a video, on which you can see that the F40 really drives again. Behind the wheel was the Belgian Ferrari specialist, who apparently did a test drive.
The latest images and videos show that the Ferrari F40 is still in Iraq today. The engine seems to run a little bit rough and the mirrors are missing.
Of course, after all this crazy story and the hype around the Hussein’s F40, “Rattarossa” asked Mazan Amin if the owner is willing to sell the car. The answer: The owner is asking 1.15 million dollars. The F40 will remain with the current owner, who wants to stay anonymous.
