In 2005, Jim Glickenhaus, owner of Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus, was approached by Andrea Pininfarina, CEO of the Pininfarina design house – responsible for cars such as the Ferrari Testarossa – with the question: If you could build any car, what would it be?
According to Glickenhaus’s son Jesse, Glickenhaus said it would be a reinterpretation of the 1967 Ferrari 330 P4 on a modern supercar chassis.
How it started
After considering vehicles such as the Maserati MC12 and full-on track cars, Glickenhaus settled on the chassis of the Ferrari Enzo for the base – as he wanted the P4/5 to be road legal.
This led Glickenhaus and the Pininfarina design team to track down the “last unsold Ferrari Enzo in the world,” reported Car and Driver, which stood in a Beverly Hills dealership with a window sticker of roughly R4.5 million in 2005.
In its still factory-fresh plastic wrapping, the Enzo arrived at the Glickenhaus garage and its bodywork was stripped away.
Now, it was time for Pininfarina to get to work. The design house set out by modeling the entire P4/5 electronically, down to its last carbon fibre lip.
Each part got its own virtual file, resulting in the P4/5 boasting a parts catalogue as complete as those of modern-day crossovers.
When the time came to fit all the computer-generated panels to the chassis, each one fit like a glove.
The P4/5’s nose took inspiration from the Ferrari 333SP, its rear window from the 512S, and the side ducts from the 330 P3/4 – while an F1-style cockpit and white-enameled exhaust tips were crafted.
The engine was still a “standard” Enzo unit, a 6.0-litre V12 generating 485kW and 658Nm.
While Glickenhaus said the P4/5 was able to sprint from 0-100km/h in 3.6 seconds, the Enzo could do the sprint in 3.3 seconds while weighing considerably more – 1,200kg for the P4/5 and 1,480kg for the Enzo.
This caused many to believe that Glickenhaus was being polite to Ferrari and that the P4/5 would wipe the floor with the Enzo in reality.
The P4/5 also featured taller gear ratios, which allowed it a top speed of 362km/h. In comparison, the Enzo’s stood at 356km/h.
Approval from Ferrari
The impressive project took just under a year to complete, totaling around R27.5 million at 2005 exchange rates.
Until five months into the project, Ferrari had no idea what was being built, until Pininfarina invited the brand to have a look.
The first Ferrari representative that showed up was blown away, and a few days later, he returned in a helicopter with Luca di Montezemolo, chairman of Ferrari at the time.
A few heated conversations took place, but after they had a look at the P4/5 in all its glory, Ferrari decided to welcome the Glickenhaus into its registry as a fully-fledged Ferrari – badge and all.
After 16 years out in the wild as the world’s rarest Ferrari, arguably the best part about the Glickenhaus P4/5 is that its owner drives it relentlessly.
In fact, the supercar has gotten so much use over the years that it had to go in for paint correction in late 2021 to bring it back to its former glory.
Glickenhaus P4/5
Keyword: Glickenhaus P4/5 – The world’s rarest Ferrari