A rare Ferrari 512 BB reduced to scrap after being left in a state of complete abandonment in a barn since 1996 was brought to light to be restored and put back on the road: the conditions of the interior and engine were, however, pitiful.
Open the door of a abandoned barn And find a rare Ferrari inside It’s every car enthusiast’s dream, but for some it just became a reality. Indeed, it was recently in the United States foundright inside a barn, one of 929 examples of Ferrari 512 BB (Berlinetta Boxer) produced by the Maranello company between 1976 and 1981 remained parked carelessly in that makeshift garage for 28 years.
The one brought to light by the guys on the YouTube channel WD Detailing it is in fact left the factory in 1980 And since 1996 it has lain there in a state of complete abandonment as demonstrated by the the pitiful conditions the bodywork was in (with the blanket of dust, earth and straw which seems to be the least of the problems), the interiors full of mold and animal excrement and the 4.9 liter V12 enginewhich was originally capable of delivering a power of over 360 HP for a maximum reachable speed of 302 km/h, completely infested by a huge colony of mice that had created their lair there.
According to what was reported by the authors of the incredible discovery, the one who is still the owner of that Ferrari 512 BB today (heir to the legendary 365 GTB/4 Daytona and progenitor of the iconic Testarossa) he supposedly purchased the car in the early 1990s together with a Lamborghini Miura during an auction held in the US state of Georgia and then used it for some time before family vicissitudes convinced him to park it permanently in that barn in 1996 when the odometer showed 31,075 km (19,309 miles), that is, the same ones it still marks today, given that the luxurious berlinetta which on the used market currently has a value ranging from 250 thousand to 350 thousand euros since then he hasn’t traveled even one metre.
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In 2024, 28 years after the last time the engine of that 1980 Ferrari 512 BB was turned on, the owner’s granddaughter took care of resurrecting the rare Prancing Horse car from the darkness of that barn. In fact, having learned of the family treasure, the woman contacted the guys from the YouTube channel WD Detailing, famous in the United States for their ability to clean up and restore old wreckage, bringing them back to their original splendor. Work that they also masterfully accomplished on this rare berlinetta made in Maranello. After several days of hard work they managed to return the bodywork paint to the original red and restore the interior which today is very clean although it retains the signs of aging. as demonstrated by the light brown color of the seats (faded compared to the brighter one it had when it first left the Ferrari factory.
The end result is stunning with the Ferrari 512 BB which remained closed in a state of abandonment in a barn for 28 years, externally restored to its former elegance. However, the restoration work is not completed. On the contrary. The most complicated part is still missing. In the video in fact there was no attempt to restart the V12 engine to try to get the car back on the road. It will now be up to the mechanics to take the last decisive step to definitively bring back to life a rare example of the iconic model created by the Prancing Horse house at the end of the 1970s and of which traces had been completely lost before the start of the new millennium .
