We recently told you about David Lee, the famous American collector whose Ferrari garage is now estimated at more than $200 million. After his Ferrari 250 GTO, priced at $38.5 million And aside from his full-time Ferrari mechanic, another car in his collection is worth a closer look. Because, in a way, this one should never have existed.
The story dates back to 2017, when Ferrari is celebrating its 70th anniversary. To mark the occasion, the Italian brand has devised a particularly ambitious project: selecting 70 iconic historic Ferraris and then creating an equal number of modern versions that pay tribute to them. Seventy cars for seventy years. David Lee, however, managed to secure one more. A sort of 71st tribute, specially designed around one of his own Ferraris.
It all started with his 1964 Ferrari
At that time, Ferrari offered David Lee a F12tdf, the radical, limited-edition version of the F12berlinetta. The collector could have simply chosen his configuration from among the options offered by Maranello. But he has something else in mind.
In his garage there is a Ferrari 250 The 1964 Lusso Competizione, a particularly rare car. Originally, the 250 GT Lusso was designed primarily as an elegant touring car. Some examples were later converted for competition, notably with mechanical modifications, race-spec wheels and suspension, special seats, and even a roll bar. According to David Lee, only four of these cars are believed to still exist today. His is yellow, and he still uses it to compete in historic races. He estimates that a car like this could be worth more than $10 million today.
So when Ferrari offered him its F12tdf, David Lee asked a rather unusual question: Why not create a tribute to the 250 Lusso Competizione, just as Ferrari had just done with the 70 historic models selected for its anniversary? In Maranello, the idea was well-received.
About 1,000 photos sent to Ferrari
The project then took on a rather wild dimension. David Lee says he sent about 1,000 photographs of his 1964 Ferrari so that the teams could study the car and capture its spirit in the F12tdf. The result is a unique configuration, designed to align the modern Ferrari with its predecessor. But Ferrari goes even further by customizing details normally reserved for the model’s very identity.
On the door sill, where the Ferrari name usually appears, the letters «F12TDF DSKL»—David Lee’s initials—are inscribed. A plaque inside the cabin also states that this car is a tribute exclusively dedicated to David Lee’s 1964 250 Lusso Competizione.
This 71st-anniversary Ferrari shows, above all, just how far his relationship with Ferrari has come. David Lee himself acknowledged that he had not previously been a prominent enough figure with the brand to order a LaFerrari directly. A few years later, Ferrari agreed to dedicate a one-of-a-kind F12tdf to his own historic car.
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