The 412 may not be the most celebrated of Ferraris
ever made – but beauty, they say, is in the eye of the beholder, and the
four-seat Prancing Horse from the 1980s does have it fans. The folks at Ares
Design evidently count themselves among them, and are working to bring it back.
The idea is to rebody the GTC4 Lusso with retro
coachwork evocative of the 412. Precursor to the 456 GT, the 412 was the final
iteration in an evolution of four-seat Prancing Horses that started with the
365 GT4 2+2, and lead to today’s 4WD shooting brake.
The 412 packed a 4.9-liter naturally aspirated V12
into long and low bodywork styled by Pininfarina. Following the 400 it
replaced, it was one of the first Ferraris to be offered (for better or worse)
with an automatic transmission: a three-speed slushbox presented as an
alternative to the standard five-speed manual. In fact, with 306 automatics and
270 manuals made, the torque-converted model was (slightly) more popular.
The revival would lay custom retro carbon-fiber
bodywork over the GTC4’s chassis, retaining the all-wheel drivetrain and
6.3-liter V12 – though we’d imagine the Modenese carrozzeria wouldn’t take
issue with rebodying the T version, with its 3.9-liter twin-turbo V8 driving
the rear wheels only. Both versions transmit their power through a seven-speed
dual-clutch gearbox.
Having already rolled out its rebodied G-Wagen and
revealed plans for the Panther revival, the company headed by former Lotus
chief Dany Bahar (who had previously worked at Ferrari) aims to begin
production of “Project Pony” later this year. Pricing is quoted to start at
€ 700,000 or about US$ 875k at current exchange rates.
