Car Catcher: A Chance to Buy a 512, Ferrari’s First Mid-Engined 12

The Ferrari Berlinetta Boxer was the first car Enzo himself allowed to have its 12-cylinder engine mounted in the middle. Unfortunately for the U.S. market, Enzo also felt that Ferrari's V8 offerings were enough for our regulations and low speed limits, and therefore never sent the new 12-cylinder flagship sent stateside. Luckily for us, a few got in, like this 1984 Ferrari 512BBi, which is finished in classic Rosso Corsa. You can find this one on offer with a reserve from Mecum at their Las Vegas sale October 10-12. Hagerty values a No. 2 car at around $250,000—what do you think it will go for?

TurnerX19 Dork
10/2/19 2:42 p.m.

In reply to Jordan Rimpela :

Brush up on your specs please, that is not a V12. It is a flat 12, as in Boxer.

Jordan Rimpela Digital Editor
10/2/19 3:10 p.m.

TurnerX19 said:
In reply to Jordan Rimpela :

Brush up on your specs please, that is not a V12. It is a flat 12, as in Boxer.

Potato, Tomato.

Randy_Forbes New Reader
10/2/19 5:57 p.m.

Not to mention that the 365 GT/4 BB predated the further developed 512 version.

So much lack of simple research, huge fail.

Brian_13 New Reader
10/2/19 7:42 p.m.

Jordan Rimpela said:
TurnerX19 said:
In reply to Jordan Rimpela :

Brush up on your specs please, that is not a V12. It is a flat 12, as in Boxer.

Potato, Tomato.

"Potato, Tomato"... LOL

True, it is flat, but not a boxer (despite Ferrari's naming).

But it's also not a 180° V12. A straight line does not form the letter "V", and "V" doesn't mean "having shared crankpins", so despite what the article claims, a flat engine is not a 180° vee, any more than an inline engine is a zero-degree vee. A radial engine isn't a vee either, despite also having shared crankpins. Are the many non-60° V6 engines with offset crankpins (to smooth them out) not V engines, because they don't have shared crankpins? That's silly.

TurnerX19 Dork
10/3/19 7:06 a.m.

In reply to Jordan Rimpela :

I am really serious about my comments, if I were Tim or Margie whoever wrote this would not have a job any more. Miss-information is a cancer.

Jordan Rimpela Digital Editor
10/3/19 8:21 a.m.

Randy_Forbes said:
Not to mention that the 365 GT/4 BB predated the further developed 512 version.

So much lack of simple research, huge fail.

Randy you're absolutely right that the 365 variant of the BB came first. I left that out since it didn't pertain to the 512BBi in question, but I've since changed it to Berlinetta Boxer.

Tom Suddard Director of Marketing & Digital Assets
10/3/19 8:40 a.m.

TurnerX19 said:
In reply to Jordan Rimpela :

I am really serious about my comments, if I were Tim or Margie whoever wrote this would not have a job any more. Miss-information is a cancer.

Bill Giltzow Artesanal Motorsport Solutions

Hi, Jordan's manager here. If you were me, you'd probably struggle to keep posting new content every day for free after firing all the employees. People make mistakes, especially in a creative environment and especially when dealing with conflicting sources. Normally they are caught during proofing, but this one slipped through the cracks.

We'll correct this article, and Jordan will still be working here tomorrow. Thanks for reading, and for lending us your expertise.