It isn’t everyday that I get worked up over a Ferrari. I’ll be honest: if I know that a 288 GTO is somewhere nearby, I’ll drop everything and go seek it out. A 288 GTO is in my top five list, permanently. But a Testarossa, a 458 Italia, a 250 GTO? I’ll look at them at my leisure, but no thanks. Why the difference? The 288 GTO means something to me…it was the moment that Ferrari genuinely looked at the insanity of Group B rally racing and was about to green-light jumping in with both feet.
Another Ferrari that has always had my attention is the 550 Maranello. The first front-engine, rear-drive Ferrari in 23 years, it was more-or-less the replacement for the line of cars that had started out with the Testarossa and had ended with the 512-series. Going from a flat-12 to a V-12, and switching from mid-engined to front-engined was a hell of a leap for Ferrari, but the 550 Maranello pulled off the looks: a combination of 1990s cues, like the twin round rear lights, a chromed grille mounted low, and a simple hoodscoop encouraged driving in the Italian sense (read: as fast as you dared) and the interior made sure that the cheeks of the well-heeled buyer would be coddled nicely. Add in that classic gated metal shifter and real gauges and I could be on board.
But I didn’t spend all day tracking down this NART Blue example just because it’s a Ferrari. I tracked it down because it’s undergoing some work for reliability. MCR Tuning, out of Horse Cave, Kentucky, is taking care of one of the biggest issues involved with owning a 1990s Ferrari: the engine’s cost of repairs. There was an example written up over ten years ago that laid out the cost of ownership of a Maranello for it’s second owner, who got the joys of dealing with a car with an expired warranty. The cost: $10.27 per mile. YIKES. Part of that cost was the famous charges for tune-ups and engine services. The Ferrari V-12 is maintenance-driven, and no amount of Italian tune-ups will help adjust the costs for annual services that in their most basic form, can hit $3,000-ish dollars. 
So the V-12 is out of the car, where it’s gone is of no importance. In it’s place is going a 5.5L MCR-built LSX that will attach via torque tube to the OEM transaxle and rear IRS setup. The metal gated shifter will remain, and work is being done to ensure that the V8 will rev like a mother…that high-register shriek needs to happen, right? We’re following this little bit of heresy until we see it rip things up somewhere! LS Fest East or wherever it makes it’s debut appearance, this Ferrari is going to be a lightning rod of either love or hate…and we will be there to capture that reaction!
Nooooooooo!! I get the sentiment, and sure it’l be reliable and cheaper to run. But without the proper engine your no longer driving a Ferrari.
If you can’t afford to own a Ferrari, don’t own one. Stop screwing with these things, they are what they are.
And that goes for Jaguar E-Types as well!!
I’d agree with you if it was a 250 GTO or another classic, but a more-modern selection is prime for a swap. I am not part of the LS-swap-the-world insanity, however, this swap can work. Will the engine be as good-looking as the V-12 – I can be 98.5% certain it won’t. A majority of LS-swaps are ugly or covered in plastic. For a car like this…..that really isn’t a big deal. If it achieves the high-revving, angry exhaust note and the outside keeps its sexy, stock-ish appearance then what’s not to like. Maintenance is low. Action is high. Looks are impressive (if you keep the hood closed). I’m not anti-LS….I’m anti ugly LS in a classic.
I understand the idea completely.
But throwing away the noise that the V12 makes? You’re doing it wrong.
Why no Coyote? DOHC wailing high rpm power and oh yeah NOT an LS. It’s the 1970’s “ Small block Chevy everything “ all over again. If you want a bad LS fine there are lots of GM products you could build that would be bad fast and cheaper. But it wouldn’t be a Ferrari you say ? It still isn’t with a GM corporate v8 in it I say or with the Ford for that matter but a GT40 5.4 or howling Coyote would still be better or even a Raptor ecoboost… yeah I’m a Ford guy but still…..
Doesn’t someone make a V12 version of the LSX? Now that would work.
Chevy haten mad Gordy must have had a heart attack about this one.
Ya stuff that LSX in a Solstice, or a Miata, or some other Import, maybe a old Vega (if you can find one that hasn’t turned to iron dust), ya don’t go wrecking high end exotics by turning them into reliable GM products. Blasphemy pure and simple it is.
ah fuck it why not? Love people losing their shit over a badge.
Enzo will rise up from the underworld and smite the philistine who would dare contaminate this fine piece of Modena machinery with a steaming pile from Genital Motors. Maybe the owner would be better off with Don Johnson’s old Daytona Spyder clone from Miami Vice…..
There’s always some mouthbreathing hunk of slime with a picture of an LS tattooed on his ballsack that deserves being dipped in burning gasoline for ultimate automotive sacrilege!
Speaking of mouth-breathing hunks of slime…. Who told you you could speak again? I can guarantee that you have callouses on your chin from all that cock you’re gobbling over there, you after-breath of a lesbian cluster fuck…
More power, and more reliable. Turn the V12 into a coffee table in the owner’s high end office suite. I approve this message.
I dig it. If the original engine was perfect with no warranty issues whatsoever, and the owner wanted to drop in a big block Chevy, 514 Boss Ford, or even a 2JZ Supra motor, that’s his business. It’s a hot rod now, not a high priced stock, and therefore, boring car. Way to go on it. I hope it really rips.