Yahoo Autos This Custom Ferrari SP3JC Was Commissioned by a Former Freelance Journalist
Ferrari never made an F12 spider. But-for an undisclosed price, paid by a discerning Scottish collector-the company was happy to create a roofless one-off: this SP3JC.
The fortunate owner, John Collins, earns our admiration not only for this custom tri-tone F12tdf, which he commissioned more than three years ago, but for the fact that he worked so hard as a freelance journalist and photographer that he bought a brand-new 246 Dino as a daily driver. In the late 1980s, he began flipping high-end cars after he sold one to a local dealer, who immediately listed it at a much higher price. Quoted in Classic Driver, Collins concluded, "If he could do it, I could do it." He placed deposits on several cars with the help of some early investors and listed them before he even took delivery. Eventually, Collins founded Talacrest, a premier Ferrari dealership outside London that has since sold more than 1700 cars.
Such a business has allowed him to own some rare cars, including a LaFerrari test mule driven only by the factory's engineers. Collins already has an F12 and an F12tdf, both of which have blue-and-gold paint schemes. The SP3JC's livery takes inspiration from the 1962 250GTO that American billionaire Christopher Cox smashed up six years ago (and which Ferrari painstakingly restored).
While we don't find this car's dark blue apron and naked white rear to be flattering, it's thrilling just to see an open-air F12tdf, the Tour de France special that Ferrari conceived in 2015 and its first road car with rear-wheel steering. The 769-hp V-12 sings to the high heavens, while twin carbon-fiber rollover hoops and an aluminum fuel cap hark back to the glory days of leather caps, goggles, and insanity. Yellow accents on the rims, extra gills on the tail, matching blue-and-white seats, and translucent windows on the hood are the most defining features. True to his roots in media and publishing, Collins posted an Instagram video of himself tearing up Fiorano with his new car. Not bad for a freelancer.
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