The Ferrari FXX and the more recent FXX-K are probably well known, but what about the FX? It’s a street-legal vehicle with Testarossa DNA, not a track-only racer based on a Ferrari hypercar. And since there were only six produced in total, it’s likely that you’ve never seen one. Before now.
Shmee150, who recently paid a visit to the Marconi Auto Museum in California, is to thank for giving us this glimpse into Ferrari’s past. The FX is a part of an amazing collection of exotics, vintage cars, and race cars worth $60 million that Dick and John Marconi donated to create a nonprofit organisation for kids. The museum hosts special events, donates a portion of its earnings to charities, and showcases some truly fantastic vehicles.
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It’s challenging to draw attention away from a Ferrari F50, Ayrton Senna’s Formula 1 car, or the first Batmobile from the Keaton era, but the FX manages to do just that. It was actually one of three automobiles from the infamous Sultan of Brunei collection that are now on display at the museum, along with a Cizeta V16 and a Ferrari 456 Spyder that is incredibly rare in and of itself. However, the 1996 Ferrari FX is a sight to behold.
This car’s foundation is a Ferrari 512M that was specially ordered for the Sultan of Brunei. The 4.9-liter flat-12 engine holding station behind the driver also means that a gated manual transmission is not mated to it. To give the FX a semi-automatic driving experience, Williams engineered a paddle-shift gearbox and installed it at the customer’s request. This is a few years older than Ferrari’s F1 gearbox.
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Regarding what you can see, the body is made of carbon fibre and, given the chassis, has a 512/Testarossa aesthetic. Pininfarina designed it, and it lacks the Testarossa’s pronounced lower side intakes in favour of a very sizable NACA duct in the hood and prominent side vents behind the windows. Under the massive engine cover, there is additional carbon fibre in the form of intake tubes for the 12-pot. It is a supercar that is years ahead of its time in many ways.
Unknown is what happened to the other five vehicles. All were made with the Brunei family in mind, so we are happy to see that at least one is still in existence and on display for admirers to see.
