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Internet-celeb F40 consigned by Podcast and Instagram influencer Sam Moores is first motor to break £1m barrier on UK/EU on-line platform

A 1989 Ferrari F40, a worldwide social media star due to its ultra-rare blue livery, has sold for £1,000,500 on The Market by Bonhams, the first seven-figure result for an online platform in the UK and Europe.  
Offered by Sam Moores, creator of the popular Car Chat podcast and Instagram star, who commissioned the Aqua Blue metallic paintwork from Carrozzeria Zanasi of Maranello (approved by Ferrari), the Classiche-certified F40 had covered a mere 16,000 miles from new and was sold with its private and so appropriate reg ‘F40 BLU’.
This Ferrari has to be one of the most photographed and socially-shared examples ever. Owned since 2015 by international commercial photographer, Instagrammer, YouTuber, amateur racer, podcaster and self-confessed car nut Sam Moores, who wasn’t even born when the F40 was first launched.
F40BLU has often been seen and snapped at car meets and petrolhead venues up and down the UK. Indeed, so well known has it become, scale models and artworks of it are commercially available. It even has its own Instagram account!
It was first registered upon the shores of Lake Geneva in July 1989 by Ferrari Suisse in Nyon. It is an earlier “non-cat, non-adjustable” example but with wind-up windows rather than the very early sliding ones.
By 2004 it was in Japan and was bought by famous customisers Liberty Walk who, in around 2010, rebodied it into a road going F40 LM and painted it white. Four years later, Joe Macari Performance Cars London acquired the car and offered it for sale.
As a non-standard F40 with a white-painted body-kit, our vendor cut a deal that involved stripping it down, rebuilding it to factory specification and painting it in blue by Carrozzeria Zanasi.
‘Officially’, all F40s left the factory in Rosso Ferrari (red). This one is painted in blue, but you won’t find this particular shade on any Ferrari colour chart, as it is based on Porsche’s Aqua Blue Metallic.
Purists may not approve, of course, but thousands of fans out there in social media land think it looks fantastic and more faithful to the type than its previous ‘Liberty Walk’ incarnation.
Shod with the correct 17-inch Speedline light-alloy wheels fitted with type-appropriate Pirelli P-ZERO tyres, it was annually maintained and serviced in the Joe Macari Ferrari workshops, most recently in June after being driven 25.975k.
Stored professionally when not in use, F40BLU has regularly been on camera.  You only have to search ‘F40BLU’ and you’ll find numerous articles, videos and photos of the car to show that it has been owned and enjoyed by a true supercar enthusiast. Having had several years of great fun with the car, the podcaster felt that it was time to move it on.
The virtual hammer eventually fell after a four-way bidding battle drove the price past the seven-figure mark in the final hour of the seven-day continuous online auction. The F40 is the first million-pound motor car to be sold on The Market by Bonhams, which claims to be the fast-growing online marketplaces for classic and collectable car and motorcycle auctions.  
Only founded in Oxfordshire in 2016, The Market has performed strongly and rapidly, selling vehicles with a total value of £13m in 2020 and increasing its turnover by almost 300% compared to 2019. It was acquired by Bonhams in April this year. 
Tristan Judge, Director, The Market by Bonhams, told C.A.R: “We are thrilled with this result. Not surprisingly, the F40 was the subject of a lot of attention and activity, with 15 bidders submitting a total of 128 bids.  
"This car was one of only a handful of blue examples in existence and while many collectors favour tradition – such as a red-liveried Ferrari – this sale indicates there is a younger generation of serious collectors who appreciate something different.”
Maarten ten Holder, Managing Director of Bonhams Motoring, said: “We are delighted with this sale which shows that Bonhams is now able to offer and successfully sell the most coveted collectable motor cars around the clock, and not only at our flagship events.”
Located for physical viewing of car and docs at The Market HQ near Abingdon, and pre-sale estimated to sell for between £725,000 and £900,000, on the 19th of July at 19:41:31, a supercar-winning bid of £1,000,500 was placed by the car’s new owner. An i-auction milestone. RH-E

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