Forget the $40m Luce, here’s a super rare V12 Ferrari for 0.17% of the price

News may have reached thine ears about the very first production Ferrari Luce selling for a whopping $40,000,000 at auction over the weekend. This, in any sane universe, is an insane amount of money for an automobile. Especially one that looks like… well. See for yourself below.

It was sold under the auspices of RM Sotheby’s during its ‘The Monterey Auction’ which, according to TopGear.com’s sources, was an auction held in Monterey (California) at the conclusion of ‘Car Week’, which is a week about (expensive) cars.

Insane amount of money, but not without cause. Every single dollar generated by that white, Tailor Made Ferrari Luce will be delivered to charitable initiatives through The Ferrari Foundation. Including “Ferrari’s commitment to advancing technical education and opportunity for future generations”. Fine and noble.

But future generations might want to remember another weird slice of Ferrari history in the form of this exceptional Ferrari 400i; another car that, at the time of its launch, also carried a mere whisper, nay, barleycorn of controversy.

Because it did not look like a ‘traditional’ Ferrari and was offered with a three-speed automatic slush 'box. Plus, its 4.8-litre V12 could summon just over 300 horsies. Not what you’d call ‘prancing’, more ‘trotting’.

And yet… as we’ve mentioned here, five decades on the 400i (earlier cars had carbs, this is a 1980 one with fuel injection) looks actually quite brilliant. Cool, clean, shorn of fussy aero detailing and scoops and vents and louvres and wings and all that jazz. And you can see where Ferrari’s modern headlight design originates from. So it’s… topical? Yes, topical.

It’s also extremely rare, Ferrari recording just 883 sales of the 400i. Plus, this one we found happens to be 0.1695 per cent (factoring in the current conversion rate) of the price of that Luce whopper, at a fiver short of £50k.

It’s in a cool ‘Blu Sera Metallizzato’ colour, features a tan interior, lovely five-spokes, and has been the subject of a £25k engine overhaul. So it’s ready for you to just… float around in, arm out the window, shades on, cruising around at crawling speed soaking up the Ferrari 400i-ness of it all. In an insane universe, it’s the only sane choice, right?