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May Event Roundup
With summer just around the corner, May ramped things up with a great selection of driving and social events, as well as two UK tours.
June 1, 2025
The emotional story behind an incredible one-off Ferrari, and the rare opportunity to own it.
Our WhatsApp communities throw up countless amazing stories, and cars with amazing specs, but when David Spickett of TheCarCrowd shared that a storage client of theirs was welling his very special 458 Speciale, I had to share it.
See, this isn't only a Tailor Made car finished in a one-off colour, but it's a car we covered in a very different looking Supercar Driver member magazine back in 2015, when its original owner purchased it. It even made a very deserving subject for the front cover! Gareth states in the article it was a car he intended to keep and eventually hand down to his son, who was just four years old at the time. Sadly, Gareth passed away a few years ago, but this very special car lives on with his story attached to it.
Check out the 2015 article below, and if you're interested, give David a message on 07739 016813. The car has just 1,300 miles on the clock and full Ferrari history.
I think it's fair to say that the Speciale is the car that 1 originally wanted. I originally ordered and purchased a 458 Italia back in 2012, my first ever new Ferrari and something I was so excited to take delivery of. But just before it was delivered in 2013, the Speciale was announced and, being a lover of all things new when it comes to cars, I instantly fell in love (again)! However, I found it hard to justify ordering another 458 coupe, particularly since I hadn't even taken delivery of my Italia. Up to this point, I'd never even driven a Ferrari, so I wrestled with my head and heart considerably.
After attending the Speciale launch at my dealership, I mentioned to them that I would like to order one, but only in convertible guise. Little did anyone know that the convertible version would be limited to 499, and only select Ferrari customers would be invited to purchase. With only one purchase under my belt, my chances looked pretty slim, so if I wanted a Speciale, it would have to be a coupe or none at all.
Following the delivery of my 458 Italia, I also took delivery of a Lamborghini Aventador, an altogether different car. Owning this made me realise that there was a way to combine the vice of buying new cars with making some money at the same time. After owning my Aventador for twelve months, it was clear there was no shortage of offers to sell the car on for a neat profit — something I'd never really experienced before.
This got me thinking, and given the volume of 458 Italias being produced, I thought it was the right time to sell my existing 458 Italia and replace it with a Speciale before the market dropped on the Italias. Only then, I found out there were no slots left as the order books were closed with Ferrari. The rumour doing the rounds was that Ferrari was even being selective as to which remaining orders were completed based on specification and cost — however, this has never been an official statement. By chance, a slot became available from my dealer through a cancelled order, and I jumped at the chance. This was November 2014, and then the fun began.
My business partner is quite the Ferrarista, and so we've done many courses, F1 hospitality and factory tours. After a couple of factory visits to spec both my own and my business partner’s cars, I was told by my dealer, Graypaul, that there was also an option to do something called ‘Tailor Made’. It's not open to all clients and requires a minimum spend on options of at least £80,000. The upside to this criteria is that you can literally specify any materials, colour and personalisation you can think of. Quite literally anything.
I went to spec the car on my birthday in January 2015, and so flew to the factory for the one-to-one session. On being greeted, we were taken to a separate part of the factory we'd never seen before. As we entered the building, we were welcomed by three designers, all sitting at huge CAD design screens and oodles upon oodles of colour and material samples, as well as parts from the 458 Speciale.
After considering the wealth of options on the flight over to Italy, I was adamant I'd select French Racing Blue with a yellow stripe — my original choice. However, following a heavy afternoon of red wine and a decent hangover, I switched my decision last-minute to green. Much to the dealer's surprise (horror?), I stuck to my guns, informing the team in the Tailor Made office. That was where it all got very complicated. My relatively non-descript ‘green’ request resulted in fifty different versions of the colour being given to me, of which there were then three or four different finishes.
Two hours later and much walking outside and in again, I landed on a colour. Great. Then came the stripe. “Black", I said, and the process started again! Three hours in, and the colour was sorted. Now to actually look at the car itself.
As this was a Tailor Made vehicle, the factory was very insistent on a factory collection. I chose a new option on the list of a full photo book of the production of the car, which is signed by Ferrari, and so this was a good way to round off the whole experience. I did the handover in Maranello but shipped the car home. We'd luckily managed to combine my handover with speccing my business partner Glyn's F12 TDF, so all in all a very enjoyable day out!
The paintwork is Verde Menta Metallic, which is a one-off colour and won't be used again by Ferrari. The stripe is a non-standard stripe which goes further down the nose to make the front look more aggressive. This is in gloss Nero to match the wheels, which are exactly the same colour, as are the wheel centre caps. The rear boot ‘Ferrari’ badge and cavallino have been produced in matte black, with the rear cavallino being a non-standard larger badge, as this was a one-off. The exhausts are finished in matte to carry this theme on.
I went with every available carbon option so all of the engine, rear and front diffusers, side fins, seat backs, dash, doors and wing grilles. As such, where there wasn't carbon but it wasn't body colour, I've had this in Gloss Nero to match — so places like the front intakes and rear panels next to the red reflectors. On the engine, I got Ferrari to paint the ‘standard’ red engine stripes in the green of my car to carry the theme through — this is one of my favourite touches.
Inside, I chose a new fabric called Micro-Presitge, which has the feel of Neoprene, for the seats. The centre of the seats I had perforated, and then green cloth underneath, so this came through. All of the stitching is green. The roof and dash are Alcantara as it looks very similar to the seat finish and gives no glare on the glass. The centre console housing launch buttons are normally outlined in red. I had these repainted in Verde Menta to match the exterior. For the steering wheel, I had a green line painted across the top and a green line painted on the bottom inside of the wheel to carry the colour through when you look through the windsereen — this is solely the artistie flair of Nick Jessop from Graypaul, whose knowledge proved invaluable when it came to personalisation.
There aren't any carpets in the Speciale, and so I had the floor finished in matte black aluminium and then added Alcantara mats with green cavallinos for detail and to match the seat headrests.
One option I had forgotten I'd asked for and then realised they'd succeeded in doing was making the ‘up’ and ‘down’ writing on the shift paddles green to match the exterior as well. Other options included the four-point harness, navigation, front and rear cameras, lifting gear and probably my favourite option and the perfect finishing touch — carbon kick sills that say "Tailor Made Ferrari - Specially Made For Gareth Pritchard”.
In a bid to try to keep the car as perfect as possible for as long as I can, I also opted for Armour Protect film, which was provided by Graypaul, all in all taking the total of the car to just over £300,000.
The dealership I have used for all of my car purchases over the past ten years is Graypaul Nottingham, including non-Ferrari marques such as Aston Martin, Lamborghini and Range Rover. We're lucky to have a dealer on our doorstep here in Nottingham, but additionally, the service from all of the Graypaul team has always been impeccable and certainly the biggest deciding factor in the cars I've purchased over the years.
It's fair to say, and without bias, the pictures and then the car itself have received some fantastic comments. All are amazed by how the colour works so well on the car. The Graypaul team weren't shy of sharing their affections for the car, with the dealer principal even going so far as to tweet that it was the best 458 Speciale they have ever sold. I’m also reliably informed they appreciate more in value when they're not red.
This car is most definitely and always was going to be a 'keeper'. It has even more sentimental value having spec’d it on my birthday and on the basis that I designed it based on what I wanted, not what I thought it would need for resale. Hopefully my four-year-old son will think the same when he comes to inherit it! As for what's next, we have a 488 GTS on order, and I was also lucky enough to grab an Aventador SV Roadster slot, so I have 12 months or so to work out where I'm going to park them all! I think if I suggest a house move to accommodate my cars, it could be the last anyone hears of me!
