It seems good on paper, so why doesn’t anybody remember it?

I myself was blissfully oblivious of the 400’s existence until a couple of weeks back when Jeremy Clarkson introduced it in its 458 Italia review on Top Gear, claiming it was “just bad all around”.

However, on paper, it seems like a good idea. A V12-powered 2+2 grand tourer for traveling long distances in complete opulence and style that could be just as home parked in front of an hotel in Monaco as it would be going 150 on the Autostrada getting there.

The 400 was produced from 1976 to 1989, during which a grand total of 2383 were produced. Strangely enough, none of them were officially imported to North America, despite the fact that it complied with regulations at the time.

After much careful consideration, that is probably one of the factors that caused the car to banish from the pages of history, with the other one being this:

Its successor, the 456, was such a good looking car that it still looks the part now, despite the fact the design was almost unchanged from its introduction in 1992. It’s also bigger, more powerful and faster. It completely eclipsed the 400 in everything, which is a shame.

Most car manufacturers want you to forget about some cars. Ford has the Edsel brand and Citroen has the BX 4TC (Which I’ll talk about on another occasion). The 400 isn’t part of this list, but since no one remembers it, it might as well be.

Image credits

Ferrari 400: SamismagiC / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Ferrari 456: FurLined / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0