The Ferrari F512 M s/n 99689
The rarest evolution of the Testarossa and finished in white. One of the greatest engines Ferrari ever built. Inside Cavallino 273.
In 1994, Ferrari opened the final chapter in the story of the Testarossa family. The new model was called the F512 M - Modificata - and represented the final, most refined, and most powerful evolution of the lineage begun by the Testarossa in 1984.
The pop-up headlights were gone, replaced by fixed units behind glass, while two large round taillamps now defined the rear. Just behind the driver’s shoulders the flat-12, lighter in its reciprocating masses and sharper in its response, produced 440 horsepower and revved with that layered, metallic, unmistakable voice: one of the most engaging symphonies ever produced by one of the greatest engines Ferrari has ever built.
Some road testers of the day went so far as to call the F512 M a better highway cruiser than the much newer F355. But don’t let its refinement fool you. The Modificata is easy to drive, yet when pushed to its limits, it reveals itself as a raw, aggressive supercar, built for tough, uncompromising drivers who make no excuses when the pedal goes to the metal. It is also the rarest of all the evolutions in the model line.
Three out of 501
The numbers tell the story. 501 production cars left the line, plus three prototypes. Only three were finished in Bianco Avus, and not one of them was sold new in the United States.
Allan McDonnel's F512 M is one of those three. Completed on June 29, 1994 it is a very early example, and the first non-red F512 M ever to leave the production line. What was once an anomaly is now its most valuable quality: interest in Ferraris wearing colors other than red keeps growing, and today's buyers care more about the color and the uniqueness of a car than about an odometer frozen at a few hundred miles.
And then there’s the driving
Built to European specification and sold new in The Netherlands to its first owner, it then spent some time in Japan before being imported to the US fairly recently.
This is a concours car. It has taken awards everywhere it has appeared, including Best 12-Cylinder Car at Cavallino Classic Middle East 2024. But the best part of the story is this: its owner drives it. Because an F512 M locked in a garage is just sculpture and that flat-12, north of 6,000 rpm, has no intention of staying quiet.
The full story, with photography, technical detail and insiders’s voices awaits for you in Issue 273 of Cavallino Magazine. Subscribe now!
