The Ferrari 456 GT often gets a bad rap, derided as bland ad unexciting. But to our eyes, it was an elegant design. And we’re not alone.
Ferrari produced over 3,000 of them (including the revised M version) in the course of over a decade. This one, for example, was bought by a prince. As in, an actual prince. Or a sheikh, at any rate, and the anointed eldest son of an sovereign emir.
The predecessor of the 612 Scaglietti (and today’s GTC4 Lusso), the 456 was a twelve-cylinder 2+2 grand tourer. Of the 3,289 examples built, the original GT model accounted for nearly half. It packed a 5.5-liter V12 sending 436 horsepower (442 ps/325 kW) galloping to the rear wheels through a six-speed manual transmission with an old-school open gate shifter.
This 1995 model in classic dark green over tan was produced the year before the four-speed GTA came out. It was delivered new to Sheikh Abdulaziz Bin Khalifa Bin Hamad Al Thani, of Qatar’s ruling royal family. The Thanis have been known to purchase and drive their fare share (and then some) of supercars, often parading them around London in their signature shade of turquoise. But Abdulaziz isn’t just any random member of the royal household, and ordered his in Verde Mugello.
His Excellency is the eldest son of the current emir, the country’s former finance minister, and heir apparent to one of the largest oil fortunes in the world. That he chose this car above all others speaks volumes.
The sheikh kept the car at his home in Cannes on the French Riviera until 2004. Its second owner sold it to its third, who in turn is now putting it up for auction. Having spent almost its entire life in France, the royal Prancing Horse has been driven less than 14,000 kilometers (8,700 miles). It’ll cross the RM Sotheby’s auction block next month in Monaco, where we wouldn’t be surprised to see its aristocratic provenance garner it a higher-than-market value.
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