Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano

The Story

When Ferrari retired the 575M and unveiled the 599 GTB Fiorano at the 2006 Geneva show, it didn’t just replace a flagship GT — it dropped a detuned hypercar engine into the front of one. The 6.0L (5,999cc) tipo F140 C V12 was architecturally derived from the Enzo’s powerplant — block, head, sump and combustion-chamber geometry retained — reworked for higher revs to make 620 PS (~611 hp) at up to 8,400 rpm. The name is pure Maranello: ‘599’ for displacement, ‘GTB’ for Gran Turismo Berlinetta, ‘Fiorano’ for the company’s test circuit. This was the most powerful series-production road Ferrari at launch, in Pininfarina bodywork penned under Jason Castriota, whose ‘flying buttress’ C-pillars doubled as aero devices making downforce without a wing.

The 599 also marked a technological leap, debuting Ferrari’s F1-Trac traction system and pairing the V12 with the SuperFast paddle-shift the vast majority chose. But its most quietly significant trait is what almost nobody bought: an old-school open-gate six-speed manual. Only ~30 manual cars were built, and when the last left Maranello it closed the book — Ferrari has not offered a manual V12 (or any manual) since. That makes the 599 a hinge point: the bridge between the analogue 550/575 era and the fully digital F12berlinetta that followed.

Across its 2006–2012 run, ~3,966 were built, and the platform spawned two legends — the hardcore 670 PS 599 GTO (599 cars, briefly Ferrari’s fastest road car around Fiorano) and the open SA Aperta tribute to Sergio and Andrea Pininfarina. It matters because it’s the last front-V12 Ferrari you could row yourself, and the first to truly translate Enzo-grade performance into an everyday car.