Even though the Ferrari 400i was never sold legally in the United States, a few were brought in illegally. Pininfarina made the four-seat coupe. It had a 4.8-liter V-12 engine and an automatic drive with three speeds. This one was sold for $49,750 two years ago. In the opening scenes of Rain Man (1988), there are also some pretty nice cars, but the chrome-covered 1949 Buick Roadmaster is what people remember most. Bring A Trailer is a newspaper like Car and Driver that is part of the Hearst Autos Group. Today’s featured car is a 1982 Ferrari 400i that looks like the first car that Tom Cruise’s character drives in the movie. The car was brought in from Europe in 1982. It has a 4.8-liter V-12 engine and is all black, just like Il Commentator. At the beginning of Rain Man, a red Lamborghini Countach is seen being taken off a ship by an overhead crane. Tom Cruise, dressed as a “Miami Vice” extra, watches as the car is lowered to join three other Countachs, each of which is a bewinged adolescent dream. At customs, the EPA is stopping the vehicles from the grey market from coming in, which is a vital part of the stress at the beginning of the movie. Cruise leaves in a silver Ferrari 400i from 1983. In the 1980s, it was against the law to sell many Italian exotics in the United States, and grey market products often had shady qualities. During the 1980s, Ferrari didn’t do much to promote the V-12 Gran Turismo in the U.S., and why should they? The United States was not a good place for this kind of car because the speed limit was 55 mph everywhere, and strict environmental rules existed. Still, there were a lot of Ferrari fans who were obsessed with speed and would do anything to get the forbidden fruit. Since this Ferrari 400i was brought in January 1982, it’s clear that a lot of hard work went into making it. The 400 was the first Ferrari with an automatic drive. It replaced the 365 GT4 2+2 as Ferrari’s front-engine V-12 grand tourer. The 4.8-liter Colombo V-12 in this later 400i was given fuel injection, giving it 306 horsepower. It looks very classy with its sharp Pininfarina body and five-spoke wheels. This Ferrari is only used for work. Because it has 51,000 miles on the odometer and a few small stone chips, this differs from the kind of Ferrari you keep in a glass-windowed shed and never use. This is the kind you drive. If you want to be Michael Schumacher, you might not like the three-speed automatic gear, but it’s excellent for weekend road trips. You can even bring your whole family since there are seats for 2+2. No ice cream cones will be in the car, no matter how nice those tan seats look. Sorry, kids.
