He buys a Ferrari F430 for less than $30,000 on Facebook: his story is even crazier than you can imagine

Buy a Ferrari F430 for less than €25,000? And on Facebook, too? At this level, it's no longer "good business": it's urban legend. And yet, that's exactly what Dave from Drift Games did, sending the money before he'd even seen the car other than in three photos and a few videos. The kind of decision that's always told the same way: with a big smile at first, then a cold sweat when the car arrives. Because the promise was simple, too simple: the world's cheapest F430. And if it's that cheap, there's bound to be a catch.

A red-white-and-blue Ferrari

The decor is anything but the key handover you see on Instagram. No showroom, no neon lights, no white gloves. The F430 waits under a tarpaulin on an aisle, surrounded by boxes of parts to be sorted one by one. Dave arrives in the UK convinced that he may have just signed the deal of the century... or bought himself a misery machine.

When the tarpaulin comes off, the first surprise: visually, the car looks just like a Ferrari. It's even "more car" than Dave had allowed himself to hope for. The body is there, the look is there, and despite a strange color combination (white and blue with red rims), the whole looks less dramatic than expected.

The F430 that did USA - Belgium - Dubai - Belgium - United Kingdom

Alex, the salesman, hides nothing. And that's almost the most worrying part: he tells the story like a list of countries on a passport. Originally, the F430 lived in the United States, near Knoxville. Then it was involved in an accident. In other words, a heavy past that tipped it into the world of unsalvageable cars. Then it went to Belgium, flew to Dubai, returned to Belgium... and ended up in the UK.

At this point, even without being an expert, it's easy to see why the price has dropped. A Ferrari that crosses so many borders is rarely the result of a simple change of ownership by a lover of fine mechanical engineering. Rather, it's the typical trajectory of a "problem" car, resold, tinkered with, moved and re-tinkered. And in the middle of it all, a twist that nobody expects on an F430: when it arrived in the UK, it didn't even have a Ferrari engine.

A Tesla engine... then Volkswagen

Yes, you read that right. At one point in its life, this F430 carried a Tesla engine advertised at 626 hp. An installed electric conversion that didn't convince Alex. He wanted something different. Something simpler to live with, more "tuning" than prototype. So he pulled out all the stops. And he did what almost no-one would dare do to a Ferrari. Under the Italian bodywork, Alex installed a Volkswagen VR6 2.8 24-valve, turbocharged engine. A familiar engine to tuners, reputed to be robust, relatively "easy" to supercharge, and above all much more accessible than a Ferrari V8, both in terms of cost and parts.

And that's not all. The transmission is based on an Audi A6 diesel gearbox rated at around 500 hp, with adaptations of cardan shafts and Volkswagen parts. At this stage, it's no longer a restoration, or even a "classic" swap: it's an assertive Frankenstein. Alex has even taken the idea of electronics a step further, grafting Audi components, including a TT harness and meters, to create a "turnkey" package. But there's an important nuance: yes, the engine starts, yes, the base exists... and no, the car is absolutely not ready.

The F430 is still a puzzle. Parts are missing, the interior is incomplete, the panels aren't all solid, the doors don't lock properly, and transport itself becomes an adventure, since the slightest element that flies off on the road risks being... a Ferrari part, and therefore potentially costly to replace.

Why buy an F430 in this condition?

Why bother buying an F430 in this condition? Because for Dave, it's not about saving a Ferrari. It's to turn it into a drift car. And from that point of view, buying a F430 in good condition would be almost a sacrilege: you'd have to strip out the interior anyway, modify the windows, adapt the controls, remove systems, transform. A lot of the work has already been done. Plexiglas windows, modified doors, the car already partially gutted...

The price of the car is impressive: €25,000. Dave assumes: he paid before seeing it because he knew someone else would buy it. He presents it as "accessible" compared to the budgets associated with Ferrari. But now he's getting to grips with everything that comes afterwards: making the car more reliable, overhauling the wiring, doing real engine management with a modern ECU, rethinking everything like a race car.

Is it still a real Ferrari? You be the judge! But here's the proof that buying an F430 for €25,000 is possible... as long as you accept that this price only exists because the car is a rolling anomaly. A Ferrari that has been through too many accidents, too many countries, too many hands, and even too many engines.