1979 Ferrari 308 Gts Base Coupe 2-door 3.0l on 2040-cars

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Hot Wheels loses Ferrari diecast contract to Chinese company

If you're anything like this writer, chances are you've got a diecast model or two kicking around the house. And if one of those models replicates a Ferrari, chances are it's made by Hot Wheels. The Mattel brand secured an exclusive contract from the Maranello automaker in the late 1990s, but the latest word from Hemmings has it that Ferrari has ended its partnership with Hot Wheels and awarded it instead to the May Cheong Group. Unless you're an avid diecast collector, you may not have heard of May Cheong, but you may have heard of its brands Maisto and Bburago. Both brands are longtime players in the model car market, but it's the Bburago part of the deal that's particularly interesting. Founded in Italy, Bburago made a name for itself largely due to the scale Ferrari models it made back in the day. But when the Prancing Horse marque awarded the exclusive contract to Mattel, and with increasing competition from the Far East, Bburago collapsed. May Cheong swept in and scooped it up, and now the Italian model brand, along with its onetime rival Maisto, will be producing diecast Ferraris once again. Whether Bburago will use any of its old tooling to resume production of Ferrari scale models or start from scratch with all-new equipment remains to be seen, as does the matter of whether either it or Maisto will be able to produce the same quality of models as Hot Wheels has with some of its higher-end offerings. Like most collectors, this writer's looking forward to finding out. Looks like it's time to buy another display case.

Ferrari, Maseratis trashed in Chinese off-road adventure

Ready to cringe? A group of Chinese motorists drove the Sichuan-Tibet Highway in a fleet of Italian cars, fording streams and hopping rocky terrain as they went. Well, they attempted to drive it, anyway. Only five of the cars managed to survive the truly unnecessary ordeal. The trip was reportedly the idea of a wealthy Chinese businessman named Ni Haishan. Haishan was driving the red Ferrari F12, with his employees following in what appear to be 10 Maserati Ghibli sedans. The Maseratis were gifts to his employees, which makes the loss of six of them along the way only slightly easier to stomach. Even the cars that made it to the finish line in Lhasa, Tibet, arrived with some serious damage. The unsurprising fallout included several wheels and tires on the Ferrari, including one wheel that took the studs it was attached to with it. As you can see above, the "highway" route was not exactly suited to these particular cars. There is some precedent for a car from Maranello driving to Lhasa, however. In 2005, Ferrari sent two 612 Scagliettis on a tour of China called "Ferrari 15,000 Red Miles" with various journalists at the wheel. That journey started and ended in Shanghai and took the cars all over the vast country, including two crossings of the Gobi Desert, along the Great Wall, and on some of Marco Polo's route. Of course, it also involved a lot of planning, a huge support team, and at least a modicum of common sense. All of this was supposedly Haishan's way of showing the world that business is good for him and that customers should trust their money with him. We might conclude otherwise based on the results. If you absolutely have to run this road in something Italian and expensive, may we suggest a Maserati Levante next time? Related Video: Image Credit: news.163.com Auto News Ferrari Maserati Coupe Luxury Performance Sedan ferrari f12 berlinetta maserati ghibli

This Ferrari Superamerica Aerodinamico can be yours for $3 million

Introduced at the 1959 Turin Motor Show, the 400 Superamerica represented the finest and fastest grand tourer Ferrari had ever made. The Colombo-designed 3.0-liter V12 engine from the 250 GT was bored out to 4.0 liters, the drum brakes from the previous 410 Superamerica were replaced by disc brakes at all four corners, and the four-speed manual fitted with overdrive. The original convertible was followed by a svelte Aerodinamico coupe at the same show a year later, which was in turn succeeded by the longer version you see here. This was the first such long-wheelbase model Ferrari built, and was displayed at both the Earls Court Motor Show and Chicago Auto Show in 1962. It was one of only 18 made, of which 14 featured the highly desirable covered headlights. Chassis number 3931 SA was done up in silver with a black interior, has traded hands over the years between owners in the United States, Japan, and Europe. It is now consigned to RM Sotheby's for its upcoming sale in Paris on February 3, where the auction house expects it to as much as $3.6 million. The same auctioneers sold another such long-wheelbase Superamerica Aerodinamico for $2.86 million in Texas this past May, where it also sold a short-wheelbase convertible for a record $7.6 million. Sports Car Market also records that Gooding & Company sold an earlier short-wheelbase coupe for over $4 million in Scottsdale last January. Paris 3 February 2016 1962 Ferrari 400 Superamerica LWB Coupe Aerodinamico by Pininfarina - Chassis no. 3931 SA - Engine no. 3931 340 bhp, 3,967 cc SOHC V-12 engine with three Weber 40 DCZ 6 carburettors, four-speed manual transmission with overdrive, independent front suspension with unequal-length A-arms and coil springs, live rear axle with semi-elliptical leaf springs and parallel trailing arms, and four-wheel hydraulic disc brakes. Wheelbase: 2,600 mm - 1962 Earls Court and Chicago Motor Show car - The first of only 18 second-series long-wheelbase examples - Previously of the renowned Yoshiho Matsuda Collection - Beautifully presented in its original colour combination of Grigio Argento over Nero - Matching-numbers example; a grand touring Ferrari par excellence THE 400 SUPERAMERICA AERODINAMICO By the 1950s, Ferrari had established itself not only as a world-class manufacturer of sports racing cars but also as a manufacturer of the world's best grand touring cars for the road.