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Man orders LaFerrari for wife, dies before seeing gift delivered [w/video]

Ferrari has been profiling some of the 499 buyers of the LaFerrari in its official magazine, and the latest issue features Austrian-born Swiss artist Cornelia Hagmann. Her husband and Ferrari collector Walter Hagmann ordered a Rosso Corsa example of the supercar for Cornelia, but Walter passed away slightly more than a year ago, before it could be delivered. There's no reason to doubt that, as Ferrari says, her husband's gift is the car closest to her heart. The video above captures some behind-the-scenes moments during the photo shoot for the magazine, and there's a press release below with a few words about the article. We've also included a video below about another Swiss citizen, Ferrari collector, and LaFerrari buyer, Albert Obrist, whose love affair with the brand began when he went to the Grand Prix of Switzerland in 1951. An encounter with an artist and the car closest to her heart Maranello, 2th January 2015 – Cornelia Hagmann is an Austrian-born painter and sculptor that has made Switzerland her home for many years. Her wonderfully rich paintings are mostly of landscapes sumptuous with greenery and flowers. She does, however, have a second great passion: for Ferrari. This enduring fascination was sparked by her late husband, Walter Hagmann, a Swiss businessman and leading Ferrari collector, who unfortunately passed away a little over a year ago before the delivery of the magnificent Rosso Corsa LaFerrari he had ordered as a gift for his wife. In an interview with The Ferrari Official Magazine, Cornelia talks not just about her art but also her love of speed and the Prancing Horse. Plus, of course, her LaFerrari: "It's a real work of art: I could spend hours just staring at it...." This video features a few moments from the photo shoot that accompanies the interview.

Ferrari planning sleeker FF coupe?

There are a lot of things you could call the Ferrari FF. Innovative, advanced, pioneering, ponderous... beautiful may not be one of them, though. Because while it does pack Ferrari's first all-wheel drive system, it doesn't pack it into a very pretty shape, alternately described as a chopped shooting brake or stretched hatchback. Word has it, though, that Ferrari is working on a solution.
That solution, according to Car and Driver, would be to chop it down into an FF coupe. Apparently separate from the SP FFX project that ultimately emerged as a one-off, this rebody could potentially solve the FF's stylistic shortcomings and attract more buyers, while retaining the 6.3-liter V12 engine that drives 651 prancing horses to all four wheels. But here's where it gets tricky: if Ferrari simply sloped the roofline and got rid of the rear seats, the finished product would end up precariously close to the F12 Berlinetta, albeit with an extra set of driven wheels.
We'd sooner guess that Maranello would lengthen the form slightly to keep the rear seats, add a trunk and give it a more graceful profile, though the elongated form of the preceding 612 Scaglietti strikes us as what Ferrari was trying to get away from with the FF in the first place. And guessing is as good as we've got at this point, as our attempts to get more from Ferrari PR resulted in a sad (if predictable) "no comment."

Beautiful Ferrari 250 California poised to break hearts, records

If you think buying a new Ferrari is expensive, just look at the prices collectors pay at auction for some of the brand's most desirable classics. The figures regularly delve well into eight figures. As in, tens of millions of dollars. One of the most sought-after is the Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider, and the one you see here looks poised to raise the bar yet again. One of only 56 made (and just 16 with open headlights), chassis number 2505 GT is an exceptional example of the breed in Blu Scuro with Pelle Beige interior. Unlike most Californias that were sent to the US, this particular one was delivered new within Italy, where it remained until 1974 when it moved to Switzerland for 20 years. Since undergoing full restoration by Ferrari's own Classiche department, it won top honors at the Cavallino Classic and honorable mention at the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este, it's been displayed at the Ferrari Museum in Maranello and was even driven by Luca di Montezemolo himself in the parade at the Finali Mondiali in Valencia a few years ago. Now it's going up for auction by RM Sotheby's at Villa d'Este next month, where it is sure to fetch a pretty penny or two. (And by "two," we mean "bajillion.") It's got quite an act to follow: the last time a California Spider traded hands, it sold for a record $18.5 million – and that was an unrestored barnfind – eclipsing the pristine example Gooding sold last summer for over $15 million. The records at Sports Car Market demonstrate that California Spiders hold the top spots for the most expensive variants of the iconic 250 GT ever sold at auction, and though pre-sale estimates place its value between $12 and 14 million, we wouldn't be surprised to see it fetch much more once the gavel drops. Though surely the most valuable, it's not the only collectible Ferrari up for grabs at the event on Lake Como this year. The California will be joined by a 1950 Ferrari 195 Inter Berlinetta along with an enviable quartet of Prancing Horse supercars (288 GTO, F40, F50 and Enzo) as well as a rare 599 GTB with a six-speed and HGTE package and a single-owner 575 Superamerica.