The Ferrari 488 Pista, 458 Speciale, 430 Scuderia and 360 Challenge Stradale: you’ve heard of all of those hardcore variants of Ferrari’s sports cars, we’re sure. But what about their granddaddy, the 348 GT Competizione? We wouldn’t blame you if it had slipped by you because this thing is so rare it makes the F40, F50, Enzo and LaFerrari look as commonplace as a Corolla.
According to model resource 348GTC.com the Competizione wasn’t produced to homologate a racecar, as some have suggested, but to celebrate the 348’s success in the Italian Supercar Championship. But rather than settling for a simple plaque and a set of exterior graphics to mark the victory, Ferrari delivered a proper little weapon.
Only 50 of the track-ready 348s were built in 1994, just as Ferrari was transitioning to the 348’s more famous F355 successor, and the Competizione upgrades actually made the hot 348 fractionally more expensive than the new car. Each was finished in Rosso Corsa, came with F40-style carbon buckets, Speedline three-piece wheels, uprated brakes and suspension and a sports exhaust.
The new pipes are believed to have liberated another 10 hp (10 PS) from the stock 348’s 316 hp (320 PS), 3.4-liter V8, though whatever the true figure, there’s no doubt that the Comp would have been wildly faster both around a track and in a straight line thanks to a circa-440-lbs (200 kg) weight saving and a shorter final drive ratio for the six-speed manual transmission.
Related: Ferrari Sued A Used Car Dealer For $2.2M Over A Ford Cougar-Based Replica. It Didn’t Go Well
And right there is one reason why you might want to buy this greatest of 348s over the stripped out versions of the 360, 430, 458 and 488, all of which came exclusively with paddle-shift transmissions. Another reason is price. Though the dealer selling this particular car doesn’t specify a price in his ad, a second car also for sale on Pistonheads (the pair accounting for one quarter of the entire UK allocation) is up for £225,000 ($274,000).
While that’s similar money to a Challenge Stradale and perhaps 10 percent more than you’d part with to take a 430 Scuderia home, 458 Speciales and 488 Pistas are changing hands for upwards of £300,000 ($366,000) and the Competizione is rarer than any of them. Heck, there are only 14 more 348 Competiziones than there are 250 GTOs, and while we’re not going to suggest a stripped-out 348 is anywhere near as special, at around 0.5 percent of the GTO’s $55 million price it looks like a bargain for any serious Ferrari collector. You can check out the full advert here.
