Ferrari 400i
Why 6.5: Twelve cylinders under a Pininfarina three-box body, sold mostly with a GM Turbo-Hydramatic automatic and never federalised for the United States. It was the cheapest way into a V12 Ferrari for four decades and it stayed that way long enough that the only people who bought one were people who wanted to use it.
Layout
Natural habitat
Ride comfort
Sound
A 4.8 Colombo V12 with twelve cylinders' worth of smoothness and a deep, even hum you feel as much as hear. But K-Jetronic injection and a heavy GT exhaust strangle it, and the GM automatic never holds it anywhere near 6,800 rpm.
12-cylinder · naturally aspirated · 6,800 rpm redline · rated 7.5 / 10 for engine sound
Market value
Median asking price, good condition · €64k (1980) → €69k (2026), trending up · illustrative data
Child seats · ISOFIX
Built before ISOFIX existed, so there are no anchor points at all. A child seat here is a seatbelt installation, and the belt geometry of the period was not designed with one in mind.
Derived from production years and seating layout, not a per-car source. ISOFIX was standardised as ISO 13216 in 1997, required on new EU model types from 2011 and on all new EU cars from 2014.
The long version
Ferrari put a three-speed General Motors automatic in the 400 in 1976 — the first automatic it ever offered — and the enthusiast press has never entirely forgiven it. The 400i that followed in 1979 swapped carburettors for Bosch K-Jetronic injection and around two automatics left Maranello for every manual. Ferrari never certified any of the 365 GT4 2+2, 400, 400i or 412 line for American emissions and safety rules, so every US example is a private federalisation, which kept both the price and the prestige low. For years this was the joke Ferrari: a big square four-seater with a slushbox that traded for less than a well-optioned saloon. The consequence is an ownership base with no illusions — people who wanted a V12 and a back seat, paid accordingly, and covered real distances. Values have finally started moving as the shape comes back into fashion, but the 400i is still bought to be driven rather than stored, and there is no auction froth anywhere near it.