Special edition supercars, especially roofless Ferraris, are almost always sold out by the time they are revealed; usually to extremely loyal and wealthy customers. Because they are released in very limited numbers there will always be a few potential owners who are frustrated by the fact that they did not make the cut. You would expect these people to just brush it off and wait for the next special edition (seeing that they come out every once in a while anyways) but Preston Henn believed that his inability to purchase a LaFerrari Aperta (Spider) is, in fact, against his civil rights and thus a legal matter.
Henn (85) is a very successful entrepreneur from Florida, USA thanks to the Swap Shop flea market that he created in 1963; something that has become an iconic tourist attraction since its inception. He also managed to claim a victory at 1983 24 Hours of Daytona and second at the 1984 24 Hours of Le Mans (both times driving Porsches) which means he has some skill behind the wheel.
Henn has been a long time supporter of Ferrari as his car collection history consists of a 275 GTB 6885 Speciale, Enzo, a hardtop LaFerrari and many more which is why he was distraught when his $1 000 000 deposit mailed directly to Sergio Marchionne was rejected and returned in a supposedly humiliating fashion.
Ferrari executives mailed the cheque back to him and told him he did not make the cut. They also informed him not to send cheques directly to its executives again as they “cannot be responsible for checks or advances directly provided to us which bear the high risk of being lost.”
As a result of this rejection, Henn will be suing Ferrari for defamation of character in excess of $75 000 (R1 055 000) along with a trial by jury.
Source: Autoweek.com
