You Can Buy Sketched-on Body Panels from Your Favorite Ferrari Road Car as Artwork
Inspired by its 812 Competizione art car, Ferrari is now selling body panels as art.It’s part of the company’s Collectibles line, which previously included race-used F1 parts.The pieces are an interesting way t...
- Inspired by its 812 Competizione art car, Ferrari is now selling body panels as art.
- It’s part of the company’s Collectibles line, which previously included race-used F1 parts.
- The pieces are an interesting way to see how Ferrari’s designers went from sketch to reality.
While almost every Ferrari model sold offers pin-your-ears-back levels of performance, you could be forgiven for thinking some people just buy the cars to look at them. Every time a delivery-mileage 488GTB shows up at auction, there is a slight sense that the owner has missed out by not driving it more, but still got something out of it. However, if you’re going to treat a Ferrari as art, maybe don’t buy the entire car.
Looking for some Ferrari artwork that you can hang on the wall and appreciate? The company’s latest entry in its Collectibles series is just that. Taking the front hood or dorsal panel of a Ferrari road car, the body part is mounted on a display frame, then used as a canvas for the original sketchwork done by designer Flavio Manzoni.
It’s called Sketch Body, and it’s just the thing to make your living room look like a dealership in Maranello. Theoretically, owners of an 812 could get a panel matched to the color of the Ferrari they keep in the garage, and enjoy gazing lovingly at it while sipping an espresso on a Sunday morning.
The idea is said to have been taken from the one-off 812 Competizione Tailor Made, an art car that also featured sketch marks across its body, showing how its shape evolved from pen to sheetmetal. The Sketch Body panels can be made from any current Ferrari.
Is this the fancy-pants equivalent of hanging the skull-and-crossed-lightning-bolts-painted Chevy Nova hood from Death Proof on the wall of your garage? Well, sort of. Part of Ferrari’s success over the years has been its ability to sell all manner of car-adjacent accessories as well as a limited number of the cars themselves. Ferrari hats. Ferrari T-shirts. Ferrari the breakfast cereal.
You can have that last idea for free, Ferrari: little crunchy rampant stallions with red and yellow marshmallows. However, having poked a little fun at the idea, the Sketch Body concept does properly demonstrate how a concept can become reality. Any student of design, automotive or otherwise, can appreciate the effort here.
If you’re interested, Ferrari’s previous entries in its Collectibles series have extended to engine parts and even sections of bodywork from its Formula 1 cars. Have a hankering for a brake disc used on a car driven by Charles Leclerc, or a timing shaft from a V-10 that Rubens Barrichello put through its paces? Ferrari sold both, and for not that much either, considering the deep pockets of its customer base.
Ferrari hasn’t yet listed a price for the Sketch Body panels, but expect them to be priced like the artwork they are. Who knows, perhaps having a reminder on the wall of the car you have the keys to will spur Ferrari owners to get out there and stretch those cavalino rampante’s legs a little more.
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Brendan McAleer is a freelance writer and photographer based in North Vancouver, B.C., Canada. He grew up splitting his knuckles on British automobiles, came of age in the golden era of Japanese sport-compact performance, and began writing about cars and people in 2008. His particular interest is the intersection between humanity and machinery, whether it is the racing career of Walter Cronkite or Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki's half-century obsession with the Citroën 2CV. He has taught both of his young daughters how to shift a manual transmission and is grateful for the excuse they provide to be perpetually buying Hot Wheels.