Hard to believe, but very true. Sometime in the 1980s, it occurred to someone that it would be a good idea to redesign a Ferrari 400i to create a different and more exclusive car. How could it be otherwise, this commission comes from the Far East, from the Saudi royal family, giving life to a peculiar Ferrari Meera S of which only one unit was manufactured and which is now looking for a new owner. Without being the most beautiful Ferrari of its time, the truth is that its design is powerfully reminiscent of other models of that time such as the Mazda RX-7 FB or Toyota Supra MKI.
On February 2, the RM Sotheby’s auction house will put up for sale a good handful of Ferraris from different vintagesand within that collection, the Ferrari Meera S from 1983. It is a unique car, a one-off made in the truest style of the current Special Projects, thus responding to a commission from the King of Saudi Arabia to give a very special Ferrari to his son.
The commission was made to the design team of Giovanni Michelotti, and although he died in 1980, it seems that the project started with his first sketches and his own son and design team were the ones who completed the commission. The peculiarity of this Ferrari was that sought to reinterpret the lines and proportions of the 400i, adapting it to that coupé image that was beginning to become common in the late ’70s and early ’80s. These proportions are found in numerous cars of the time such as the Mazda RX-7 FB or the Toyota Supra MKI, however the design of the Meera S seems not to have sought to resemble any of those sports cars, but rather to adapt to those canons.
The end result of this Meera S is still quite peculiar, since the end result is a coupe that aims to show off a body of 3 independent volumes, although not too proportionate. Although the front section is the most accomplished part with a long and low hood despite hiding a V12 and the retractable headlight mechanism, the rear is the most controversial point as it fails to integrate into the group because of the broken waist line.
However, this one-off did not focus solely on the aesthetic section, but also introduced important innovations such as the use of a double air conditioning system (remember that it is a 4-seater), a digital mirror thanks to the use of a camera that projects images of the posterior area on a screen, a system of 4 ejectors to clean the windows and a passenger compartment upholstered by hand in cream and red leather. For the exterior, the use of Fuji white is not without attention, an unusual paint on Ferrari models, but quite common in this type of very special creations.
At a technical level, no changes were made, so the Meera S maintains the engine configuration of the Ferrari 400i. to know a 4.8 naturally aspirated V12 with 310 hpbeing able to do 0-100 km/h in 8.2 seconds and reach 235 km/h. In November 2010, this Meera S underwent a restoration process at Ferrari Classiche valued at 252,100 euroswhich allowed rebuilding the engine, electrical system, exhaust system and other elements.
RM Sotheby’s has set a sale price of between 90,000 and 110,000 eurosalthough it could exceed that figure if it manages to assert the one-off category of this model.
Source: RM Sotheby’s