I realize that saying something from Ferrari is overpriced is hardly a bold stance, but I recently encountered an example that I just couldn’t roll my eyes at and ignore. I mean, look, I understand that I’m about as likely to become part of Ferrari’s target market as I am to suddenly gain the ability to will delicious hoagies into being, hovering and glowing three feet above the floor, so it’s certainly possible I’m simply just too cretinous to appreciate what Ferrari is offering here. And what they’re offering is a Ferrari badge, hand-painted on your Ferrari’s fender. For between $15,000 to $17,000.
Ferrari posted an Instagram video about the process of painting the Ferrari badge on a fender a bit under a year ago, but it’s been popping up online recently, for reasons that are only clear to The Algorithm and pure chance. The video was made as a way for Ferrari to demonstrate why this hand-painted logo is such a worthy addition to your next Ferrari purchase.
Note the caption to the Instagram post:
“The making of an artwork. This is the meticulous craftsmanship that goes into every painted Scuderia Ferrari shield.”
View this post on Instagram
In case you can’t view an embedded Instagram post or in case Ferrari gets their red, silken panties in a taut knotty wad, here’s the same video republished on YouTube, titled “Exactly why Ferrari’s hand-painted fender shield costs $15,000″:
Do I have thoughts? I have thoughts.
First of all, that’s not hand-painted. It’s hand-stenciled, and there is a difference. I’m not saying the process Ferrari is doing doesn’t take skill or effort or time, because it absolutely does. But it’s very different than a hand-painted logo, which would have the variations and relative imprecision and variability of human-controlled brushtrokes in a way that stencils simply cannot.
The process Ferrari is using is incredibly precise and careful, with jigs used to make sure the alignment is perfect, and using surgical tools to be sure every little bit of that stencil is cut out just right.
The result is something so perfect and precise it may as well have been a decal, because that’s what it looks like. Really, the process isn’t all that different than if it was screenprinted, as it’s using color separations and mechanical ways to insure proper registration and all that sort of thing. It’s hand-painted in the sense that there’s paint involved, and hands, but that’s about it.
If you read Walter Benjamin’s famous essay, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Benjamin discusses how a reproduction of a work of art is inherently different – though not necessarily lesser – than a reproduction of such work. He notes that a unique work of art has an ‘aura’ about it that is inherent to it being unique in a number of ways. He goes into a bit more detail here:
Even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element: its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be. This unique existence of the work of art determined the history to which it was subject throughout the time of its existence.
It’s not even the stenciling that I have an issue with here; artists have used stencils extensively over history to make art – the now less-anonymous Banksy may be the most famous current practitioner. And artists like Andy Warhol loved to use techniques like silkscreening for their work. But in those cases, other elements conspired to make them still unique and have what Benjamin calls ‘aura;’ the location of where the work was stenciled, the way the silkscreens were applied and used, the individuality of how they were used each time. The goals for using stencils or screens were not a perfect reproduction of anything, but just tools to make interesting work.
Ferrari’s goals in the use of stencils for this fender badge is to make as precise and perfect a reproduction of their intellectual property as possible, the same on every car they build. This is the same job a sticker does, just quicker and cheaper.
Here’s how Ferrari describes the process on their page about this $15,000 option:
“The simplest solution would have been to use stickers, covered by a layer of clear coat to keep them in place and protect them from the elements,” remarks Stefano Del Puglia, Head of Painting at Maranello. “But Ferrari is not known for seeking the easy way out.” Indeed, the entire painting process takes up to eight hours per fender shield. In other words, those little scudetti add up to 16 hours of manual work per car. Talk about passion.
Okay, so it takes 16 hours to make something that looks like high-quality sticker with clear coat on it. I guess knowing that it’s not a sticker may mean something to the owner, but no one else is going to know or care. I mean, look at the final product; it’s nice and all that, but does it feel hand-painted? Does it feel unique or special, can you feel the hand of the artist, is it personalized in any way, or may it just as well be a decal?
I guess that’s for you to decide, but I’m not sold on this at all. This seems like a genuinely inane way to drop $15,000. I bet you could find a really top-notch decal and have it professionally installed for, what, let’s be generous and say $1,000. Hell, make it $2,000! That’s still $13,000 cheaper than the Ferrari option, and you could use the money you saved to buy yourself another fun red sports car, like this one:
And you’d still have a couple grand left over! I bet you could have a blast in that little Datsun 1600, and I think it probably will attract as much attention and more smiles than a brand-new Ferrari.
So, if any of you out there are in the process of buying a new Ferrari and are considering getting one of these hand “painted” badges on your car, I’d implore you to consider other options. What about hiring a talented lowrider artist to paint you a custom version of the prancing horse? I bet they could come up with something incredible for a whole lot less than 15 large, though then you may have to deal with the wrath of Ferrari, who famously gets really pissy if owners modify their cars. But that itself may be reason enough to try it, right?
Or, you could buy something else, and do whatever the hell you want with it.
Top graphic image: Ferrari
This is a perfect metaphor for modern Ferrari as a whole. Take something that used to be meticulously hand-painted on the cars as a badge of honor, engineer all the soul out of it and then charge exorbitantly to pay homage to a heritage that most new Ferrari buyers couldn’t give two fucks about.
Do they cover it in XPEL so that it will survive hood slides, bushes, preschoolers and the like? Or is that another $15k?
I’ve heard the stock market is smart people taking money from stupid people, seems like Ferrari has this down.
On the other hand, I also hear that art is becoming a major investment vehicle for the rich, so maybe this works? But I also feel that to qualify as art art, as the article says, the stencil needs to go.
FTFY 😉
lol, spot on, so Ferrari = money laundering vehicle = laundry machine = appliance?
Why yes it looks like a sticker, but it is under the clear coat so it won’t feel like a sticker, and it’s still hand painted because it’s not painted by a robot like the rest of the car. It is wildly overpriced though because milking the sacred cow in the name of profit is what Ferrari does best under current management.
Meanwhile the comments of every 20th century Ferrari auction on Bring a Trailer are rife with pundits asking for paint meter readings, and then complaining when the ACTUAL hand-painted (with a spray gun) panels vary….
What.the.Ferrari?
Rolls Royce can get away with this for their pinstriping guy because that is truly hand painted.
$15000 for 16 hours of work definitely shows how much Ferrari make from this specific option.
Let’s say $150/hr for the craftsman stenciller, that’s $2,400.
With 6 miscellaneous admin hours each at $100/hr brings let’s call it $3000.
$12,000 for the coffers is a pretty slick scam at 400% ROI
Yeah, the painter doing the work is the one really getting shafted here. I spent two days of labor to produce something “valued” at $15,000 and all I got was this shitty T-Shirt.
Reminds me of a documentary I saw on clothing production in the early ‘aughts. They interviewed the laborers at the Tommy Hilfinger plant, and asked them what they thought their goods sold for, based on what they were paid to manufacture them. They projected a few dollars, and were rightfully outraged when they heard their shirts were being sold for nearly $100.
I bet that 16 hours includes the time for the paint to dry.
For that money, I’d insist on a custom badge. Or, have it painted backwards or upside down just to mess with people.
“Sir, your appear to be in distress, shall I have my man contact the authorities?”
Careful they don’t get you for copyright infringement like that one celebrity with the cat-themed badges.
One of the coolest things about unrestored 1950s-60s Ferrari racing cars is you can see how all that was painted freehand with a brush.
If someone is really spending 16 hours on this (one fender or two?) Ferrari probably isn’t making much money on this. I suspect some customer wanted the the factory to paint it, and Ferrari had to do it to a standard if they were doing it at all, and things got out of control, then it became a thing to offer.
I suppose if they are using paint that will last, making a mistake is difficult to correct, so that impacts the procedure.
On the other hand that’s comparable to paying Fender to use a bunch of stencils to put fake wear on a brand new Stratocaster.
It would not at all surprise me if Fender used stencils, or at least jigs, for their vintage-ized product.
IIRC Fender called it “road worn”. Damn, Ferrari could call it road worn too!
That doesn’t sound like Ferrari…how about “Climate-Controlled Garage Burnish?”
I posted another comment, but I wonder if any of that 16 hours is for the cure time of the two chevrons painted at the beginning. Big impact on labor time vs total time.
An easy extra $15,000 from anyone who wants the top of the line model for the sake of having the top of the line model. Ferrari is right to squeeze out every drop they can.
Username checks out 🙂
My friend used to refer to these types of product features as “titanium wingnuts.” There’s a group of consumers out there who will always buy from the top shelf regardless of how much you charge for the top shelf product, so you should always offer an expensive version of your product (just add some titanium wingnuts) to take their money.
For some of these buyers it’s a desire to just make sure they get the best product regardless of cost, and for others the price of it is actually kind of the point. They have to be able to show their friends they can afford the one with the titanium wingnuts.
(Sticks hand flat into a tray of paint. Presses it against car.)
There! Hand painted!
Jason – this question has been bugging me for a while and I finally looked up the answer.
What is the name of the padded stick-thing that sign painters and pinstripers use to keep their hands steady?
It’s called a mahlstick (or mahl stick) or a maulstick. Thought you might like to know.
In return, please let me know when you work out that whole “will delicious hoagies into being” thing. Italian, please, with oil and vinegar and onions. 🙂
Apologies for being cheeky but, I’ve always felt that the “OEM” Scuderia yellow shield is kinda, um, garish? Maybe to the point of being a bit downmarket? Showoffy? I really do apologize.
Garish you say? How about a prancing pony on the hood ala trans am. That might piss Ferrari off
Not cheeky at all; opinions are fairly evenly divided amongst the Ferrarati. I slapped a pair on my Rosso Corsa Mondial and boy howdy, does the color pop against the red. Nicely complements the wheel center caps, too. Of course the purists hate it, but nobody was inviting me to join their country club anyway.
And when I decide they detract rather than enhance, I pops ’em right off!
I do so enjoy the prancing Moose parody for old Volvos. There was also a Honda Fit set up for racing that had Fitrari decals that were spot on. I should have bought that car when I saw it at Lime Rock this past summer!
The Terlingua rabbit is pretty cool on an old Mustang:
https://terlinguaracingteam.com/pages/about
I had seen that before. I just read up on the history of it. Perhaps I should sponsor my Autocross Miata with the Terlingua crest…
Seriously considering prancing moosesses, moosi, meeces? for my Volvo. They even have hybrid ones.
https://www.prancingmoose.com/VolvoPrancingMoose.html
I get the impression that customers in this segment buy cars the way ordinary people buy small goods from listicles.
Not long ago I heard a podcaster tell a story about a buyer who had breezed in and out of a Ferrari dealership with someone who managed his collection and later asked if he should buy a particular model next. The fleet advisor then asked him if he remembered passing by an example of that car in a tasteful spec on their way out. He didn’t. The advisor then told him that the car was his and had come in some time ago.
I can definitely imagine someone who doesn’t even remember ordering a Ferrari checking the “hand-painted shield” box without considering details like numbers that feature fewer than six digits.
I worked for a guy who had a Bentley, it was great because I would take it in for service which happened all the time. Over the course of a few years, I ended up meeting others who had similar jobs requiring management of their boss’ fleet. The number of them who followed the time instead of mileage numbers for recommended service was insane.
My favorite story was a guy who bought Murcielago and the owner had never driven it. That isn’t the crazy part. The crazy part is he had his assistant move the car so that it would be visible to his neighbors when the weather was nice. Then it would get moved back into the garage if it might rain or snow. The car essentially never properly warmed up and when they brought it in for service the dealer picked it up on a flatbed. Some days I think about that car and wonder if anybody ever tried to actually use it and if they did what broke.
The best part of being the person who took the car to the dealer was I got to know the high-end sales and service folks. One time I told a salesperson that my boss was looking at something different and I landed a day with an early Bentley Continental, that was a very good day. After the Bentley was a maintenance nightmare my boss bought a Lexus, very sad day.
Ferrari’s current product lineup is complete and utter horseshit. But you know what they say about fools and their money…
Well their mascot is a prancing horse, so…
On another note, I always wondered what is behind your screen name, until yesterday, when a clip of MadMax popped up in my recommended feed on YouTube. Or is it something else?
It’s definitely that. See avatar.
In the avatar, he’s lighting a cigarette coated with a white powder, presumably filled with marijuana inside and sprinkled with angel dust. You know, the good stuff.
It was/will be a different time!
One would have to be awfully ballsy of an individual to ride a Kawasaki KZ1000 at speed while high on that shit! No wonder he took an axe to Lair’s Chevrolet as Lair and “the town bike” fled Wee Jerusalem. Johnny The Boy couldn’t handle the visuals from it and “whacked right out of his gourd”, was left behind. Bubba Zanetti knew Johnny was a lightweight all along and not worth going back for, of course.
It’s DEFINITELY that. See below!
Well, to me it’s not worth $15k, but then, to me, the cars aren’t worth the price either. Hopefully the skilled tradesman who does the stenciling gets paid well for his efforts.
I assume, to the target audience, $15k is like buying a coffee, and the goal is to have spent money on something vaguely prestigious and pointless. Thinking about whether the “prestige” actually makes any sense would be like considering the nutritional value of a bag of chips.
Or maybe it’s a big purchase the Ferrari owner feels very proud of. Which one is more shameful?
the problem is, as JT points out, it’s not really “prestigious” given it looks indistinguishable from a sticker. You’d have to point out to someone it was made by hand so well that you can’t even tell it was made by hand.
They need to bedazzle it for it to be truly *special*
Maybe that’s the point, so you can point it out. Further wealth signaling on top of the base Ferrari wealth signaling.
I’m not in that income bracket but it still feels like looking like a try hard. From what I understand stealth wealth is about being subtle but still leaving some clues so that if you know, you know. Kind of like debadging a car that’s nice enough no one needs to see the brand to know it’s expensive.
Chatting with a friend at a work event, who married a guy with a long interest in cars with a bit of a fleet – what cars are your favorite? “Mid engine sports cars from the 1970s & 1989s” of which they had a few. Weirdly when we would see them at various functions they usually drive in a five+ year old nondescript VW… They did build their own place with high end finishes and room to park maybe 15 cars inside.
I predict a lot of overlap in the Venn diagram of owners that covert their Ferrari to a manual transmission and the owners that will pay $15 grand for this.
Watching a video of someone hand-pinstriping a Rolls Royce is far more impressive.
There is only one legitimate way to hand-paint a crest onto a car.
https://youtu.be/bKaRLlGPfAE
We think alike, it appears
The better question would be how much of that $15k goes to the skilled artisan painting the logo?
How dare you breathe air from the same planet.
Sweet Datson 1600!
I’d rather have the Datsun. I’ve been looking at used cars and thought it was an actual ad…
up for auction right now from the collection of the Tampa Bay Automobile Museum
The BSA Roadster went for $14,980, and the Citroën 7CV Berline went for $11,770
I wanted the 7CV, but my wife said no more then $10K. And she would have been upset if I won at $10K.
Ferarri Is Delusional.
Could have stopped right there. 😛
Ferrari is also not doing great in this season of F1.
Ya gotta pay for a losing team somehow.
The get 50 million just for showing up. combine that with a probable second in the championship and I don’t think this factors in, especially under the cost cap rules.
The rich are not like you and me – they have WAAAAY more money. Might as well spend it.
They stopped sales in the middle east, so they need to recoup the lost revenue somehow.
Those cars are just going to be delivered to the owner’s homes in London, New York, Geneva, Singapore, etc. No revenue lost.
Stenciling is a method of painting.
And its clearly done by hand – not by machine.
If you would honestly prefer a cheap decal on your $300,000 car – I’m sure you can get one for less than $10.
https://www.redbubble.com/i/sticker/Ferrari-Logo-by-321design/177868576.EJUG5?country_code=US&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23476772817&gbraid=0AAAAADuDTRw-Njcnk38SEsivRQIU1YKV8&gclid=Cj0KCQjwve7NBhC-ARIsALZy9HUU6LEkf_NFdoaLcJo_NdmPwvvQNT8-_DVMZQXjevTPJ29XgPssU-waAk8_EALw_wcB
Personally I would not choose that option. Because I prefer stealth displays of wealth – and debadging.
ideally, for $15,000, I’d want something unique. Or a cheap decal.
I think it would be a public service if somebody bought 1500 off these and put them on every clap trap rust bucket Nissan they could find to honor Ferrari’s unbridled
egospirit.Stenciling is a method of painting.
And its clearly done by hand – not by machine.
Maybe technically true. But this is not what one thinks of when one is told that something is “hand painted.” Also, maybe just barely technically true, since a sprayer applies the paint, and that’s a machine. A hand-operated machine. Similar to the jigged stencils.
Certainly for me at least, this is not what “hand painted” is. As Jason said, it’s closest to a silkscreen done according to exact instructions with no variation, except the silkscreen might end up with more variation.
Sort of like restaurants that offer home cooking?