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Ferrari FF coupe plans found in European patent application

The FF is quite a departure for Ferrari - it's the company's first hatchback and all-wheel-drive vehicle - so it isn't surprising that it rubs some people the wrong way, even if the car itself is very good. Well, judging from these patent drawings of what looks like a FF coupe filed with the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM), Ferrari has plans to build one.
We're not sure if Ferrari is planning a production run, however, and it's very possible this is a one-off special being built for a very rich customer, a la Eric Clapton and his 458 Italia. Patent drawings of Clapton's special 458 were filed with OHIM before it was finished, as well.
We think the regular FF is a good-looking car as is, but would welcome a coupe version if it looked like the one in these drawings. It could be a great alternative to the F12 Berlinetta for people who want all-wheel drive and a lower profile.

Michigan man gets jail time for Ferrari engine sale

Tax evasion is not something to mess about with. Ask Al Capone. For most of us that sell stuff, though, it's not something we really think about. Are you honestly going to pay taxes on that old iPhone 5 you sold? The couch with the questionable stain? No, because paying tax on something you sold for a relative pittance is just a pain in the butt. If you sell one of Aurelio Lampredi's Ferrari engines – used in a range of vintage racers, including the 750 Monza shown above – for over $600,000, you might want to make a point of paying the taxes on your profits. A Michigan man found that out the hard way, Reuters reports, after selling the Lampredi engine in 2009. 71-year-old Terry Myr of Smiths Creek, MI, was convicted in April of tax evasion and four counts of failing to file a tax return and was sentenced to two years in prison and two years of supervised release on Thursday. He was also ordered to pay $738,904 in back taxes, interest, and penalties – he already owed $195,000 in back taxes before his conviction – by a US District Court judge, Reuters reports. Now, this wasn't a simple case of Myr forgetting to set some money aside from the sale. The buyer wire-transferred the $610,000 into a corporate account he made the week prior. Then, Myr promptly withdrew $360,000, which he used to buy silver and gold coins, while the remainder was transferred to other accounts – be they personal or corporate – or simply used for checks to cash. Hence the tax evasion charge. According to Reuters, no explanation was given as to how Uncle Sam uncovered the engine sale in the first place. Related Video:

Nigel Mansell's Ferrari F40 sells for $870k

If you look at the $1.35 million price tag on the new LaFerrari and wonder how Ferrari can possibly charge that much for a single car, you could look at the prices of its competitors like the McLaren P1 that lists for almost as much at $1.15 million, you could look to the $2.5 million which Ferrari is said to have charged for the exclusive F60 America - or you could look at the prices at which LaFerrari's predecessors are still trading. Take, for example, this Ferrari F40 which, 25 years since it was built, just sold for nearly $870,000 at auction.
The F40 in question, a 1989 model, may be just one of 1,315 examples made, but it has a rather noteworthy provenance: the car once belonged to Nigel Mansell, the only driver ever to hold both the Formula One and Indy titles at the same time. That Mansell - a man who had access to some of the fastest and most capable racing cars ever made - selected the F40 as his personal ride of choice speaks volumes about the car's abilities and appeal. But then he did, after all, drive for the Scuderia that season, winning the Brazilian and Hungarian grands prix.
The celebrity provenance, however, may not have actually jacked the price up at all. While it may rank towards the top of the list, this was hardly the highest price paid for an F40 at auction. According to Sports Car Market, which tracks such sales, the record currently belongs to a 1993 Ferrari F40 LM that Bonhams also sold for $2.2 million at Monterey. The highest price for a standard, non-LM model was recorded at the same event at $1.43 million.