This quintet of Ferraris up for sale by U.K.’s Furlonger Specialist Cars isn’t united by model year or celebrity ownership, but a revolutionary technological throughline that pushed automotive performance to a lofty new benchmark—both on and off the track.
Dubbed “Scuderia ’89,” the assemblage of pristine Prancing Horses charts the development of the paddle shifter—a boundary-pushing development that was conceived for Ferrari’s Formula 1 cars before it trickled down to just about every elite marque in the 2000s. Having achieved true ubiquity, paddle shifters can be found today in everything from a Toyota Corolla to a Bugatti Tourbillon.
It all started with the 1988 Ferrari Tipo 639 prototype, this example being the only privately owned and the second of two factory prototypes. It was developed to test Ferrari’s all-new Tipo 035 3.5-liter V12 engine, but more pertinently, it was the first F1 car to feature a semi-automatic paddle-shift transmission.
That technology then graduated to the 1989 Ferrari 640 F1, was the first Formula 1 car to use a paddle-shift transmission in the World Championship. This one, chassis No. 110, was driven by 10-time race winner Gerhard Berger during the 1989 season in the Canadian, German, British, Mexican and American Grands Prix and has enjoyed an illustrious post-race career, reuniting with Berger for display laps at the 2024 Goodwood Members’ Meeting, and taking the prestigious Chairman’s Trophy at the 2025 Pebble Beach Concours.
Because paddle shifters allowed drivers to shift nearly instantaneously without taking their hands off the wheel, Ferrari’s world-first implementation of the system created an adopt-or-die scenario for every other F1 team, and by 1995, every team had moved on from comparatively bulky mechanical levers. In 1997, Ferrari became the first automaker to put paddle shifters in a road car when it mated the screaming Tipo F129 3.5-liter V8—widely regarded as best sounding Ferrari engines ever—with F1-derived paddle-shift gearbox in the 355 models. Completing the technology-tracking trifecta on offer from Furlonger Specialist Cars is a Rosso Corsa-red 1998 F355 Spider.
For good measure, the collection also features two vehicles from Ferrari’s elite Supercar bloodline. A 1989 Ferrari F40 stands as a perfect example of how Ferrari took the “race car for the road” philosophy pioneered by the GTO to new extremes, as this particular model is the most successful racing F40 in the UK. Closing out the high-octane quintet is an 1996 example of the F50, the F40’s successor with a 4.7-liter V12 that can trace its roots to the unit from the 639 and 640 F1 cars.
Simon Furlonger, our Founder and Managing Director at Furlonger Specialist Cars, said: “We’ve assembled some of the most iconic and significant race and road cars in Ferrari’s history. These models define the dawn of a new era, when Ferrari harnessed its Formula 1 know-how for its road cars like never before. And of course, the 639 and 640 laid the foundations for the dominant Schumacher years that would follow in the early 2000s.”
The cars are only available to purchase as a complete set that’s valued at over $27 million. If interested, contact Furlonger Specialist Car online.
