Ferrari painted only one single Enzo in Bianco Avus, making this one of the most special prancing horses ever produced.
O la balena, the great white whale — the rarest of all Ferrari Enzos ever built is going up for auction. It’s the only one of the Italian flagship supercars that left the factory painted in Bianco Avus, a stunning shade of white. And it’s heading to auction on June 29.
The Enzo Was a Tribute to the Legend Himself
The Ferrari Enzo was a tribute to the man who founded and built the automotive legend, Enzo Ferrari. Developed around the turn of the century, it used the company’s latest Formula 1 car-building technology. A follow-up to the equally iconic Ferrari F40 and the underappreciated F50, the Enzo had a fully carbon fiber body, carbon-ceramic composite disc brakes, and an F1-style automated manual gearbox. And that’s just scratching the surface.
Ferrari added tech to the Enzo that Formula 1 didn’t even allow. This included advanced active aerodynamics features like front underbody flaps and a movable rear spoiler that gave it nearly enough downforce to drive on the roof of a tunnel. (This was before the movable devices were re-adjusted on the fly to lower downforce and allow a higher top speed.)
The heart of the Enzo was a 6.0L V12. Generating 651 horsepower and 485 pound-feet of torque in the Enzo, this engine had legs. Ferrari uses a version of it even today, powering the 812 Superfast, Monza, and more. The screaming V12 wasn’t the entire car, but it played a massive part in setting the character of the Enzo.
Officially, just 400 units of the Ferrari Enzo were built — 399 for some extremely important and well-heeled customers and one that Ferrari gave to the Pope.
Only 20 Non-Standard Enzos, Just One in White
Of those 400, 380 were painted in red or yellow, the only colors Ferrari had planned to allow. Of course, when you’re this high into the company’s stratosphere, even those types of things can be a bit flexible.
Just 20 of the cars were finished in a color that was non-standard (“extracampionario” in Ferrari-speak). According to auction house RM Sotheby’s, who’s putting this car under the hammer at the end of this month, this is the only one finished in Bianco Avus. We can’t find any others that would cast a doubt on this claim.
Even the Pope, who would have an impressive selection of Italian exotics if they weren’t auctioned for charitable causes, didn’t get a white Enzo. Instead, the car Ferrari gave to His Holiness was a red one. That’s how unique this particular Enzo is.
Is it the most exciting color to paint your screaming Ferrari? Not really. Do we love it finished in this color bringing memories of the Miami Vice Testarossa? Absolutely.
Showpiece Spent Last Decade in Hong Kong
RM Sotheby’s gives the history of the car, starting with its completion in May 2003. White paint is paired with an interior in Nero leather, and the buyer opted for Rosso Corsa red instruments. Another rare option, the extra-large carbon fiber seats were fitted and are trimmed with 3D black cloth inserts.
The car was sold to “a very private German-Swiss billionaire” by way of Ferrari Central Europe in Germany and Symbol Automobiles in Matran, Switzerland. The auction listing says the car didn’t see much use and was instead a showpiece in the window of that Swiss dealer.
The car was exported to Hong Kong in 2011, where it resided until its recent temporary import into Canada for the sale. While it was unregistered in Hong Kong, the auction listing says it was driven. It now has 9,600 km on the odometer, just under 6,000 miles, which is actually a somewhat high figure for this type of car — suggesting someone enjoyed it.
For Ferrari collectors, it has Ferrari Classiche certification. Awarded in November 2012, that’s a Certificate of Authenticity Ferrari makes available to cars more than 20 years old. This means that Ferrari experts examined the entire car from bumper to bumper — including chassis, engine, gearbox, suspension, and more — to determine the car’s authenticity. Any non-standard parts are replaced with factory originals, even if Ferrari Classiche has to have them made.
The question is, just how much is the only white Ferrari Enzo worth? A black example sold for $3.4 million at auction in late 2021, while a 353-mile Rosso Scuderia car fetched $3.8 million the same year. The car belonging to Pope John Paul II fetched $6 million, but that’s a very different story behind the car.
We’ll find out just what this car is worth on June 30, when the 24 hours of online bidding ends.
