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
Forget how much it costs as an option, but consider the price you pay for NOT getting it. Imagine you roll up to the parking valet or that week’s Cars & Coffee, everyone is staring at you and they notice your F car looks a little off. They realize it does NOT have the painted crest. Embarrassment kicks it, you hear them talk behind your back, this guy rolling up with a poverty spec Ferrari. All of a sudden the open parking spots next to the other hand crested Ferraris are “taken”, or the valet walks over and parks the Lambo even though you arrive first. Next thing you know, you are parked next to the Corvettes at C&C.
COTD!
Also, once you are past a certain level of rich, it seems that you have to start making up excuses to spend money.
In that would-you-rather I’ll take the hoagies, please. I don’t want to be the type of person who buys new Ferraris.
I reckon you could find an actual artist who could actually hand paint that logo, for less money.
Because I’m the type of person who becomes an engineer I was compelled to figure out the markup on those 16 man hours. At my salary those 16 man hours would be less than 10% of what Ferrari is charging for it. Even if you want to use the estimate that total cost to the company (salary+benefits+bonus+etc) is approximately 2x salary and assume that the artist is paid as much as a mid-career engineer there is still an 80% markup (minus the cost of the paint, etc).
I’m sure you could. Most artists don’t work hourly, but that works out to $937.50/hour.
AI searching is telling me a hand-painted lettering/pinstriping (like for hot rods and such) would be somewhere in the $600 range from a reputable artist. Call it $1000.
I worked with a local body shop stenciling my Jurassic Park Jeep replica, and it was $75/hour and took us 8 hours, so that also works out to $600, though again, most artists quote the job, not hours, so that $600 was really just rolled up in the total cost to restore and paint the entire car.
That Datsun is truly lovely! 😀 I see them on the road in LA, but only once every few years. They always make me smile.
I’ve seen Ferraris over the years with what I think of as extra/large shield/badge/logo/whatever on the front fenders (stickers for the most part I presume) and I always think they look silly. There’s already plenty of badging on most Ferraris I see regularly (say, from the ’80s onwards in SoCal) and sometimes the badge is ridiculously big, like a prize that came out of ceral box for oversized brats.
Like Jason, I’m hardly in Ferrari’s target demo, so my opinion about their choices is, of course, moot. But honestly, they’re just not that interesting to me, due in part to their prices of course, but also to their vibe as a company. Yah, the ones from the ’50-60s are art, and a used Mondial or 348 might be a good choice if you’re a poor who simply must drive one for some unfathomable reason, but all of their multi-million-dollar recent stuff (since before they dropped manuals) is just bo-ring. Like McLarens: I can appreciate it briefly when I’m next to one in person, but do I feel much desire to own or even drive one myself? Not so much. And don’t get me started on Lamborghinis… factually, I know they’re much better than they were when I was a kid, but most models/versions look almost exactly the same with the main differences being the size, placement, and shape of various scoops, fins, wings, accent lines, etc… Astons feel much the same to me too, but at least they’re cheaper used I suppose.
A Miata, or MR2, or a 86/etc…, early Z-car, or that cute Datsun 1600 feels so much more genuine and sensible as a car meant to be used and enjoyed for the pleasure it provides. IMO.
PS: thanks Jason for the link to Walters’ work. I’m not familiar with it but will definitely read it.
I really really dislike Ferrari. They are peak rich asshole holier than thou.
100% agreed. The “luxury” marketing tropes just make me angry at this point. A) as you point out, it’s a stencil. My 6yo can do a stencil. The classic example of this stupid sort of hyperbole to my mind is Montblanc’s “precious resin” pens… AKA plastic ballpoints. B) 16 hours to apply a stencil doesn’t sound to me like it’s worth more money, it sounds like someone who sucks at applying stencils is taking way to long to apply a stencil. The whole thing where “luxury” advertisers tout big numbers to make things sound impressive where the numbers don’t stand up to the slightest scrutiny just makes me roll my eyes.
I dunno man. I watched that Ferrari Instagram video and when he got all done and they showed the finished product, all I noticed was a surprising amount of orange peel in the light reflection. I’d expect better from a car that expensive, but I’m in no danger of ever buying one so my opinion matters not.
A friend of a friend does super high end detailing work out in Hollywood. Apparently he had clients that would get their brand new cars delivered straight to him to do paint correction before they’d bring them home. At that time (about 12 years ago now) he’d spend 40-60 hours on new hand-built hand-painted Italian sports cars to correct orange peel and runs.
Methinks one of those reproductions was meant to be production.
Imagine being the person who has to listen to the Ferrari owner going on about the hand-painted badge.
My next door neighbor has a Ferrari. I have heard many such lectures.
Very interested to learn there’s an ‘a’ in Hoagies. We just call ’em rolls
People starving to death while some super important person spends $15,000 on an incredibly generic looking horse logo.
Humanity in a nutshell.
Through the mysterious powers of the universe, there is now no part on the car more likely to be damaged than that badge.
A friend of mine who was a Michael Schumacher fan put a Ferrari decal on his Chevy many years ago. It looked as good and was few bucks cheaper. I can’t wait to tell him that he saved about $14,992.
Tell me more about this Datsun…
As soon as I saw things start, I was hoping Torch would go on about the difference between hand-painting and stenciling. Not disappointed at all!
As someone who loves art, art history and design, and who has spent some time studying it, I love Jason’s art and graphic design background appearing in The Autopian. And this is definitely the only automotive website I read that quotes Walter Benjamin.
Ferrari: “Dude! With accessories we’ve found a way to pad the selling price of each of our cars by $15,000!”
Porsche: “Halt mal mein Bier”
“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.”
Pretentious to English translation: “The original is cooler”. This Walter Benjamin fellow must have been delightful at parties.
He was! He was wildly erudite and deeply connected to European intellectual culture between the wars. He died by suicide in Spain when faced with being deported back to France, which he had just left and where there was a Nazi order for his arrest.
Only at the first ever party, all subsequent parties aren’t true parties.
If Ferrari owners are paying $15k for it, then it’s worth $15k.
If the guy painting it is getting paid $300 a day and using $700 worth of tooling then Ferrari owners are morons.
16 hours to apply a stencil doesn’t make it not a stencil, it makes the guy applying bad at applying stencils.
I 100% agree with your take Jason – there are so many amazing artists painting cars and trucks by hand.
If anything this seems like a missed opportunity from Ferrari – although I guess it’s not out of the question that once demand for this dies down they will start offering an even more exclusive/expensive option where it is painted free-hand.
Look at the hand-painted lettering on an old race car sometime if you want to see art.
The shield is superfluous and annoying just like in Smokey and the Bandit II, in which the Bandit wears a dumb jacket that says, “Bandit.”
I wonder how much of that 16 hours is cure time for the chevrons that got painted first?
The lighting change to purple is them using a UV light to speed the curing process, which is why it only take 8 hours to complete.
Yep, but I just wondered how much of the claimed 8 hours per fender is curing time. So if it cures for 4 hours, it’s really only 4 hours of labor per badge. Big difference.
This company has become completely repellant. If I couldn’t sell it, I wouldn’t even pay $15k for one of their current cars.
For that kind of money I expect a lot more anatomical detail on that horse.
For that kind of money I expect an actual horse
For that kind of money I expect a horse, plus feed and stabling costs.
Good point. And it’d better be a damned good horse.
Okay, so now I REALLY want to see someone, preferably with a Ferrari, do a prancing horse logo with a raging boner.
Sounds like a job for Torchinsky.
That decal is as much art as the stamp I use at work for checks that says for deposit only. But then again I think that Datsun is more authentic sports car than the Ferrari