Global Courant 2023-05-21 12:01:23
In 1938, as the world plunged headlong into one of its bloodiest cycles, Saudi Arabia found the secret to its happiness underground. The oil that gushed out fueled its rise in the Middle East and in the international arena for decades. Instead, in 1940 Japan allied with Germany and Italy in a war from which it was sunk. By then, Enzo Ferrari was slamming the door at Alfa Romeo. All of them – Saudi royalty, the miracle of the rising sun and the Maranello brand – met 45 years later and gave rise to a car like no other: a Japanese Ferrari.
The Ferrari 400i Meera emerged in the early 1980s as a commission from King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia for his son Saoud, members of a family whose estimated fortune currently stands at 1.6 trillion dollars.
By then they were already a group with power and ambition. The order was a one-off, those cars that are made to measure for the client and that it was very strange that they had a Prancing Horse as their object. The force of money, however, can do almost everything.
Ferrari 400i Meera, the model created on the whim of the King of Saudi Arabia. Photo: RM Sotheby’s.
The call fell on a legend of automotive design, Giovanni Michelotti. The guidelines pointed to the far east. The vehicle with fatta in Modena mechanics and fatti in Torino lines was to be a reinterpretation of the 400i model with the trends that the reborn Japanese industry was setting through the latest innovations from Mazda and Toyota.
It saw the light in 1983, in exchange for an astronomical sum. But it aged in the shadow of good taste and, four decades later, it became an outdated car for which a buyer paid “barely” 400,000 euros when it went up for auction in 2022.
This is how the Japanese Ferrari was born
Saudi Arabia holds oil for an estimated 20% of the world’s reserves of the commodity. The owner of all this is the Al Saud clan. Or, rather, a small portion of the royal family, some 3,000 of the 15,000 members that make up the clan tree, according to the newspaper El Mundo.
In recent times, the most repeated name was that of Prince Mohamed bin Salman: he was the architect of the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo to the local league, bought the Newcastle club from the Premier League and was also in charge of signing Lionel Messi as tourist promoter. For now, that is the deal with the Rosario, whom he continues to seduce to grace the Saudi courts.
Ferrari 400i Meera, the model created on the whim of the King of Saudi Arabia. Photo: RM Sotheby’s.
He is also accused by the CIA as responsible for the crime of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. In any case, in the early eighties he had not been born. The story had other protagonists: the king, Prince Saud and one of his loved ones.
There were no savings in choosing the craftsman who would put his hands at the disposal of the extravagant sports car. They chose Giovanni Michelotti, an experienced designer who had worked at the Stabilimenti Farina and Vignale houses. He also collaborated with Ghia, another historic Turin banner.
Michelotti had built a strong personal reputation in the motorsport world. His had been the Renault Alpine A110 that dazzled in the European and world rally with almost 20 victories in the first three years of the ’70s. He also signed Maserati models and left his signature on more than a dozen Ferraris, including the 166 Inter, considered the company’s first grand tourer.
Ferrari 400i Meera, the model created on the whim of the King of Saudi Arabia. Photo: RM Sotheby’s.
He died shortly after receiving the order, on January 23, 1980. Strictly speaking, it is not known if he came to give his personal imprint to the order that traveled from Saudi Arabia. His team, led by his son Edgardo, did most of the work, if not the entire process. Owners and auction houses point out that Giovanni did manage to make some sketches and swear that this is therefore the artist’s latest creation.
In 1983, finally, the 400i Meera S left Turin, the king’s whim for his son that bore the name of his partner at the time and the initial of his own name. All in exchange for the whopping sum of a million dollars.
How was one of the ugliest Maranello cars in history
The model that served as the basis was the 400i, a two-door, four-seater coupe (2+2). With a Pininfarina design, production began in 1979 and was discontinued in 1985. Michelotti -or his team- kept intact the mechanics of the car on which they worked, model 1983.
Ferrari 400i Meera, the model created on the whim of the King of Saudi Arabia. Photo: RM Sotheby’s.
Therefore, even today it has a V12 engine located in the front position, 4.8 liters with 315 HP of power at 6,500 rpm. It climbs to 100 km/h in 8.2 seconds and its top speed is 235 km/h. The interior also looks almost like it came from the factory: elegant blue and raw leather upholstery has been dyed red and cream. The main difference, however, lies in the exterior and, furthermore, in the details.
The body introduced several changes. On the front, the retractable headlights stand out, below which a grill with four horizontal lines flashes with a prominence that was forbidden in the base model. If from the front the change is impressive, from behind it is a new work: it seemed to have acquired an additional volume, in addition to the protrusions that finish off the passenger compartment on both sides and the modifications to the rear window and the crystals of the two rear seats.
Ferrari 400i Meera, the model created on the whim of the King of Saudi Arabia. Photo: RM Sotheby’s.
There, in those inappropriate lines of a Ferrari, the oriental influence is still noticeable. At that time, I was hovering over the success that the Mazda RX-7 FB and Toyota Supra MKI had had in Europe, at a time when Japanese industry was enjoying the momentum of the post-war miracle and already competing on an equal footing with the West. Fuji white was not chosen for nothing.
The technology is noticed in the details. The vehicle is equipped with a rear view camera and monitor as a rear view mirror. With temperatures typically in excess of 40°C, the weather in Saudi Arabia was a concern for the commission. As a solution, a double air conditioning system and extractor and ventilation embedded in the doors were implemented. One unusual and unresolved complication is that the windows could only be rolled down in a lower corner. Of course: they all have their own cleaner.
Saudi Arabia, a Dutch narco leader and the gang that broke forecasts
What happened next is unknown. Fans who followed her trail suggest that the prince gave it to a friend a few months after receiving it. It was later put up for sale several times, with advertisements in the United States, Dubai and the Netherlands. Some reports indicate that the Meera was confiscated from a famous Dutch drug lord, after one of his periodic arrests, in 1993. In any case, according to a review prior to 2010, in almost three decades it had barely covered 4,810 kilometers.
That year he entered the Ferrari Classiche workshop, the department of the Maranello company that is in charge of restoring and updating old models of the Prancing Horse. The engine and electrical system were renewed, the exhaust system was also replaced, new tires were put on and the brakes were adjusted. The investment amounted to 252,100 euros.
King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia. Photo: Reuters.
It was put up for auction by RM Sotheby’s in 2022. Specialists anticipated that the winning bid would be around 100,000 euros. A bargain to get a vehicle with the Maranello logo, which in its unique and special versions can go up to 3 million dollars. Against him was playing that this one-off did not come from the official bowels -it does not even have a review on the page-, but was the work of an external bodybuilder. In addition, the company opened its own personalization sector in 2008, thus devaluing these independent unique pieces.
Finally, the winning proposal exceeded all forecasts: “an astonishing 245 percent above forecasts,” they celebrated from the auction house. The anonymous buyer disbursed 435,500 euros to keep a car that is a jewel: a Ferrari inspired by the Japanese industry under the mandate of a Saudi king. A mockery of elegance that happens once and for all.
