A manual transmission and a V12 go together like a kick and a snare. There’s just something so inherently right about that combination that poster cars from the Lamborghini Countach to the Ferrari F50 to the Pagani Zonda used it. Want a cherry on top? Make that manual gated. It’s a rarified combination, one that usually commands blue chip pricing. But what if I told you that you might not have to mortgage your dog to get your hands on a gated manual V12 car? No, it’s not some shed-built special, it’s a proper Ferrari.
I’m talking about the Ferrari 456 GT, predecessor to the 612 Scaglietti and a turning point car for the brand. With this four-seater GT, it finally felt like Maranello had entered the nineties, and it came with the performance to match. We’re talking zero-to-60 mph in less than five seconds, a top speed of 192 mph, and all the pedigree you could possibly ask for.
Despite being enjoyed by everyone from the Brunei royal family to Michael Schumacher to Mike Tyson, the 456 is now something of a sleeper in the second-hand Ferrari market, and that means you can pick one up for less than you’d spend on a well-equipped Ford Mustang Dark Horse. The two cars both have equine motifs on their noses, they both have an engine at the front, and they both seat four, but that’s about where the similarities end. Tempted?
What Are We Looking At?
Back in 1992, the 456 GT was something of a revelation. At the time, it was the brand’s first all-new front-engined V12 GT car in twenty years, and did it ever show. The sleek Pininfarina lines were all modern, with pop-up headlights enabling a low nose and modern construction allowing for flush glazing and double-bubble molded tail lights. Under the hood, a brand new 65-degree V12 making 436 horsepower set the stage for every V12 Ferrari through the 575M, and when mated to a six-speed gated manual transmission, that propulsion made the 456 GT the second-fastest four-seater of all time when it went on sale. The first-fastest? None other than the Porsche 959. We’re talking about a performance envelope high enough that Car And Driver used one to race a plane across west Texas. The plane won, but only by a nose.
Our silver 456GT—the quietest, bestÂriding, most user-friendly Ferrari ever built—has lost the race by exactly 540 secÂonds. It averaged, for 2 hours, 34 minutes, and 20 seconds, a speed of just under 103 mph. In return for this grand performance, the 456GT gulped 25 gallons of fuel, four more than the Mooney required.
Still, that first sentence is high praise, and speaks volumes about the liveability of the 456 GT. Here’s a roomy, practical four-seater with decent ergonomics, comfortable seats, and hushed freeway cruising abilities that still serves up a dose of gated manual V12 performance. Best of all, you can now pick one up for less than the price of a new Ford Mustang Dark Horse, making this an attractive entry point to the holy grail of Ferrari powertrain layouts.
How Much Are We Talking?
When I wrote that you could buy a manual V12 Ferrari for Mustang Dark Horse money, I wasn’t kidding. A Mustang Dark Horse Premium stickers for $71,370, including freight, and it’s not hard to find a gated Ferrari 456 for less than that. Take this 1995 456 GT, for example. Finished in lovely Blu Swaters over beige leather, it had just 51,000 miles on the clock and a clean Carfax when it crossed the virtual auction block on Bring A Trailer in July. Belt service? Done. Control arm bushings? Done. The hammer price? A reasonable $67,500.
Not a fan of bumper reflectors? How about a European-spec car? This grey-over-tan manual 1994 Ferrari 456 GT has some serious pedigree, sold new in Switzerland before being brought to Germany by the then-CEO of Ferrari Germany, then making it to America years later. With about 53,000 miles on the clock, it seems reasonably well-cared-for. Sure, it’s had some paintwork, but it’s also had the all-important belt service done. The hammer price on Bring A Trailer in December reflects this, coming in at a solid $70,456.
If you don’t want to wait on an auction, you could always give the traditional classifieds a go. This 1995 Ferrari 456 GT is up for sale on Long Island for a reasonable $69,500. Sure, it may have 82,312 miles on the clock, but cars like this being driven is generally a good sign. It typically means someone’s been maintaining it rather than letting things pile up while the car sits. Plus, this 456 GT comes with a clean history report.
What Could Go Wrong On A Ferrari 456?
I mentioned the belt service several times above, and that’s for good reason. In addition to replacing the timing belt, tensioner, front drive belts, and associated components, a belt service on a 456 GT also requires valve adjustment, and labor really does add up. You can expect to pay somewhere in between $6,000 and $8,000 for a belt service, and the recommended interval is a mere 30,000 miles. This will be your biggest expense on a 456 GT, but it’s not the only thing that goes wrong. Self-leveling suspension accumulators can fail, although third-party replacements are available for as little as $319 each. Wind whistling can likely be traced down to poor window adjustment, which will take a few hundred dollars in labor to sort.
Otherwise, keep in mind that a Ferrari 456 GT is effectively a 30-year-old car at this point. Soft-touch switches can get gummy to the touch, little things can break, and it helps to budget around $3,000 a year in maintenance to run this big V12 GT car. That’s not bad for a Ferrari, but it’s still not exactly inexpensive.
Should You Buy A Ferrari 456 For Mustang Dark Horse Money?
There are two ways of concluding this. The first is that most people probably shouldn’t buy a Ferrari instead of a Mustang. That feels fairly obvious. The second is through the lens of car person math. Whether you buy a Mustang Dark Horse or a Ferrari 456 GT, it probably won’t be your daily driver. Sure, a few thousand a year in maintenance is a lot, but so is a few thousand a year in depreciation. Given that 456 GTs have effectively bottomed out on their depreciation curves, buying one might not be as financially harmful as you may expect. Of course, if anything goes seriously wrong, you’re on your own. The Mustang, meanwhile, has a warranty. So, if you’ve always wanted a gated manual V12 Ferrari and can afford the upkeep, buy the 456 GT. Not only is it the most cost-effective way to your dream, it’s also just a good car to enjoy.
Top graphic image: Bring A Trailer
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I’ve always loved these ever since watching the one video of the test driver testing one to destruction. I think it was from an old Top Gear episode, I remember having the video downloaded through Limewire or similar for regular watching (pre Youtube)
These are screaming deals with the old 4-speed auto, which sounds like it would be terrible, but I’ve seen some driving videos, and the combination of only 4 ratios and transmission programming that seems to not be too eager to upshift means you get to hear the engine a lot, in a good way.
This is probably the only Ferrari I’ll ever own at this point. All the 308s, even the Bertone ones, are appreciating fast, and these are in that sweet spot of the 90s where they look great, still are pretty quick, and are analog feeling machines.
I also feel like the front engine V12s are actually cheaper to maintain than the mid engine V8s.
I can’t imagine looking for Ferrari on the pull-down menu on rockauto or pepboysDOTcom
So buy a Ferrari with the unreliability of a Ferrari but with the style of the most boring year of the Ford Probe. Frankly I prefer Ferrari style but with a better company reliability. This is a boring looking car
A gated manual is like a gated community, it’s the maintenance fees that get you.
That C&D contest is weird. Did they run illegally or close off the course? If the former, that seems like a huge legal liability at best, if the latter, that’s really damn slow unless they included a good amount of unimproved roads. Fuel capacity was 29 gallons, so shouldn’t have needed a fillup, but that would still not be an excuse. The Subaru Legacy set a record for the under 2.0L class averaging just under 139mph over 18.5 days in 1989. I have no doubt I could have beaten that Ferrari’s time in my FWD Legacy wagon and maybe in my ’83 GL, though it would be a long shot as that’s not far off top speed and I’m pretty sure I’d have to refuel.
This was C&D in the glory days – closed course – surely you jest? They pointed the thing where it needed to go and put the hammer down ala the Cannonball Runs.
I still wouldn’t call that impressive, but it’s fair if it was due to some semblance of consideration for other users (and their license).
One of the most boring looking Ferraris’ of all time.
The 2nd gen Ford Probe came out at about the same time… and the Probe looks more like a Ferrari vs. the 456. And I fucking hate Ford Probes.
If you want a V12 from this era…just get a 600 series Benz. If having a Ferrari nameplate is that important for you… you need to save for a cooler Ferrari.
Good lord, it does look like a Probe. Didn’t notice until you pointed it out. Now it is all I can see.
Or an early 90s BMW 850.
Ah, yes, good point.
And the taillights look an awful lot like something from VW.
Are gated shifters actually any fun to use, or is it just a nostalgia thing? I’ve never driven one and am genuinely curious.
Paying $70K for a 30-year old Italian car sounds…dangerous, but I’m obviously not in the tax bracket where it would even be feasible. And I don’t even need a Dark Horse – I’ll settle for a regular old GT.
(Also, the correct term is ‘bass drum.’ It’s only a ‘kick’ if your pedal breaks. 🙂
Sincerely,
Drummers)
I’ve driven a couple. I don’t recall anything too special about them but I think I was more focused on coming back without a single scratch so that likely sullied the experience.
I’ve driven a few gated shifter monopostos, mostly John Deere.
My understanding is that it the gate is there because the linkage and feel is so sloppy.
I heard/read somewhere (I cannot remember now as it was long ago) that the gates in early race cars were there as actual guides for the shifter and later became more of an unnecessary traditional appearance thing on road cars because of the racing association. I don’t know if it’s true—it sounds like it could be, but it also sounds like one of those falsehoods that get passed down. I’ve seen some people sell goofy gate kits for regular cars. They’re pretty expensive for something that will be used once or twice before the joy of novelty wears off and it’s removed.
This is one case where it actually makes sense to go with the Ferrari.
I always wanted to own a Ferarri just once in my life. I almost pulled the trigger on a 308 back when they were just a 20k used car not a 100k collectors item. But you would have to be nuts to choose a 456 over a new mustang. The mustang is faster, quieter, handles better and comes with a warranty. The huge service hassles would never be worth it in this case just to say you own a Ferrari.
As my Ferrari-owning friend always says, there is a great deal of value in being able to say “that’s MY Ferrari”. Certainly far more than saying “that’s my Mustang, regardless of how much motor is stuffed in the thing.
How much you value that is a very personal thing, of course. I’m actually more with you – I find even this, the least shouty of all modernish Ferraris, to be a bit too shouty. And the author is underselling the servicing costs of one of these by a LOT. There are plenty of articles out there where people have tallyed up the long-term costs of ownership and they tend to be absolutely eye-watering. I am not in the right tax bracket for this sort of thing.
The depreciation you save buying this over a comparably priced new car pays for lots of maintenance, and if you keep it up well, it’s only going to go up in value.
I loved this thing when it was brand new, and I was only ~14 at the time. Something about having 2 actual, semi-usable seats in the back just made it more attractive than the usual mid-engined affair (It also helps that I hit 6’2″ about that age, so the idea of sliding a seat backwards and reclining really appealed to me, too).
30k intervals on the belts? I’d have to guess the aftermarket has come up with more durable components, but maybe the real underlying issue is the valve adjustment.
Yeah once you’re in there to adjust the valves, you might as well replace those other components.
Man this would be a fun rebuild after the inevitable money shift. Would they sell me parts without being special?
The 456 should have had its best service done six times by the time it was sold on BAT. It is 30k miles or every five years. The listing said it had been done 4+ years earlier, which means it was already almost due again. So, the car had likely not had recommended service completed over its life.
For a Ferrari, I agree that this is likely the way to do it. It is likely the closest to the bottom of its value, and there was a meaningful proportion made with a manual.