The story of this ultra-rare white Ferrari 512BBi is shaping up to be one of the great automotive stories out there. YouTuber Scott Chivers, popularly known as Ratarossa per his channel name, is a serial Ferrari owner. And makes no qualms about buying some of the worst Ferraris out there and fixing them up. But this particular Ferrari barn find almost proved to be too much for even the Ratarossa.
First shown on his YouTube channel over two years ago, the Bianco 512 Boxer only had 6,420 miles on the clock when it was parked up and forgotten for over a decade. Instead of letting the barn find Ferrari rot into the ground, Ratarossa ended up convincing the previous owner to sell him the car. With Saudi royal ownership in its past, and YouTube royalty in its future, this is the present state of one of the rarest Ferrari Boxers out there.
Barn Find Ferrari Transformation Is Unbelievable
Slowly but surely, Ratarossa has brought this Ferrari 512BBi back from the brink of extinction. When he first inspected the car, it was all original and had all its parts in place — itself a rarity in any barn find car. It was also apparent that the car had been parked for no real mechanical fault. But it was in pretty rough shape, with rust spots all over and peeling paint in places.
The Bianco Boxer was first washed and fully detailed with the virtual help of Larry Kosilla from the AMMO NYC YouTube channel. This helped Ratarossa, and the millions of viewers, gauge just how special this car really is.
Since then, the Ferrari has been restored in various departments to bring it to sound mechanical shape. Everything from the interior, to the front trunk, engine, suspension and gearbox were restored to make the rare 512BBi a work of art once more. The last piece of the puzzle was to get the Boxer professionally painted to really make the restoration shine.
As seen in the video, the barn find Ferrari gets a paint job in its original Bianco shade of white. Then the process of reassembling the Ferrari begins. It won’t be too long before this two-year long restoration comes to an end. It also helps that Ratarossa seems to be taking a different approach to restoring this particular Ferrari.
Ratarossa Is Saving This Rare Ferrari Against All Odds
Love him, or hate him, Scott Chivers AKA Ratarossa is a Ferrari-owner with a difference. For example, Chivers daily drives his Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale, a car he converted from a stock 360 Modena himself. Chivers earned his fame (and name) with a pretty left-field restoration of a Ferrari Testarossa, the successor to the Ferrari Boxer. So it’s poetic that this Ferrari 512BBi entered his possession in the first place, despite the previous owner putting up a fight to even sell it.
Thankfully, Ratarossa managed to bring the car home, clean up the years of neglect, and begin the painstaking and expensive process of a grounds-up restoration. Though it may have initially cleaned up well, Ratarossa explained that considering the age of the rubber parts in the engine compartment, and the fact that it hadn’t been run for so long, even trying to start the engine could have resulted in more damage. A restoration was the only way to save this classic Ferrari.
As with any restoration, especially one of a rare Ferrari that never saw high production numbers, parts and information are both equally hard to come by. One of the biggest setbacks in this Ferrari Boxer restoration came when the car was moved by the local police to a “safe” storage facility. It’s during this process that over $20,000 worth of parts were stolen from the Boxer. This includes parts like the rare and hard-to-obtain original Ferrari tool kit, and other rare interior parts. If small parts like these are worth so much, it begs the question: what kind of value does the car itself hold?
How Much Is A Ferrari 512BBi Worth?
| Specifications | Ferrari 512BBi |
| Engine | 4.9-liter V12 |
| Gearbox | 5-speed manual |
| Power | 340 hp |
| Top speed | 174 mph |
| Price (when new) | $62,500 |
Considering the rarity of the car, a Ferrari 512BBi is worth up to $500,000 according to Classic.com. However, this is for a highly-original and well-maintained Ferrari Berlinetta Boxer with fuel injection. Average prices for the Ferrari 512BBi seem to be around the $260,000 mark.
However, one also has to take into account that much, much fewer Ferrari 512BBi models were made in right-hand drive configuration, which means the car that Ratarossa is restoring could be worth more.
How Many Ferrari 512BBi Were Made?
Like we said, a little over 1,007 units of the Ferrari 512BBi were produced between 1981 and 1984. To be exact, 1,007 Ferrari 512BBi units were made. Out that admittedly small production run, around 42 are said to have been produced as Ferrari Boxer UK RHD models. The model that replaced the Boxer, the Ferrari Testarossa, itself is seeing a rise in values now, though over 7,000 were made.
In the Ratarossa’s Ferrari 512BBi’s case, it’s said to be one-of-one RHD Boxers specced in Bianco. This could add to the value tremendously, especially considering the past history of the car includes ownership by a Saudi royal prince at some point. For classic cars, provenance is everything. And this is one Ferrari with a ton of it.
Even before the Boxer was saved by Ratarossa, it had been a favorite of local car spotters. The car has been well-documented in the UK. For a lot of people, seeing it back on the roads in the shape it was meant to be in will be a very special thing. We can’t wait to see how this barn find Ferrari 512BBi ultimately turns out.
