Berlinetta Boxer [1973-1984] Was The BB 512 The Coolest Ferrari Of Its Time?


The Ferrari Berlinetta Boxer (BB) is a series of sports cars produced between 1973 and 1984. The first BB model, the 365 GT4 BB, replaced the front engined Daytona and was the first in a series of road-going Ferraris equipped with a mid-mounted flat-twelve engine. The 365 GT4 BB was succeeded in 1976 by the BB 512, equipped with a larger displacement engine, then by the fuel-injected BB 512i in 1981. The series was discontinued in 1984 when the BB 512i was replaced by the Testarossa, which used a revised version of the flat-twelve engine.

JHF

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As a predecessor to the Testarossa and a successor in name to the Ferrari 512 race car, the BB 512, which stands for Berlinetta Boxer, is the type of rare exotic that leaves you wanting more.
modern day exotics to notice and admire your Ferrari Boxer, which is exactly what happened to him as he was driving this car on the streets of Dubai - a place where the roads are packed with expensive rides.

Inside, the Boxer is plenty quirky, even for a mid-70's Ferrari. You get things like dual cigarette lighters, sun visors that "button" in place, and even storage spaces, which were rare in cars from this era.

On the road, DeMuro found the Boxer to have a "go-kart feel", while commending it for its steering, which he said was great and felt very heavy at low speeds. He also enjoyed the soundtrack and as we said before, the acceleration.

As for what powers this car, it's a 360 HP flat-V12 engine, which also produces 450 Nm (330 lb-ft) of torque. The end result is a 0 to 62 mph (100 km/h) time of 5.4 seconds.

car scoops
 
Arguably so. In fact, one of the coolest Ferraris of all time. It's Testarossa 512 TR successor could never truly captivate me in the way that the BB 512 Berlinetta Boxer could. And does.

I can't help but have "Crockett and Tubbs" flashbacks when recalling the 512 TR.
 
Arguably so. In fact, one of the coolest Ferraris of all time. It's Testarossa 512 TR successor could never truly captivate me in the way that the BB 512 Berlinetta Boxer could. And does.

I can't help but have "Crockett and Tubbs" flashbacks when recalling the 512 TR.

Funny! I had exactly the same intuition like you with the 512 TR! Crockett with his pastel coloured suits driving a white TR :coffee:
Although I liked Miami Vice when its first series started in german TV (when I was a kid) - it was really a remarkable/cool/tough movie back then! But now it is just awful and I always do now connect the TR with Crocket :rolleyes: ... and by the way: the design of the TR with all the fins and creases on the sides was just too loud! A bit like Franco Sbarro designs :)

By the way: I wondered, why he didn't say a word about the 512 BBi version! We had one in the neighborhood in 1985 in red and I fell in love with it bein 12! But I found out just now, that the BBi although having electronic fuel injection opposed to the BB had lower power!!! Who had thought this? Carburetor having more power than electronic injection (Bosch Kjetronic)
 
The BB 512 and the Dino (in yellow) are the most impressive and beautiful Ferrari ever made. Most other Ferrari don't even make my head turn, seeing them irl.
 
Why is it called boxer? The engine is a flat V12, but not working in a boxer firing order (every boxer is a flat engine but not every flat engine is a boxer)
 
Watch This Classic Ferrari 512 BB Get Reborn In 8 Minutes

The actual restoration project spanned three years.
Auto restoration videos are not uncommon, and most are usually quite interesting. Casual fans and full-blown auto enthusiasts alike typically enjoy seeing the process of bringing a classic car back from the brink, but the folks at FerrariChat aren’t necessarily typical. Sourcing parts to restore an old Chevy can be challenging enough, but the subject of this video is a 1984 Ferrari 512 Berlinetta Boxer – a rather rare Prancing Horse that's a freaking amazing 12-cylinder masterpiece.
When we say rather rare we really mean extremely rare. For starters, the Boxer was never officially imported into the United States so it's already very thin in the North American market. Even if it had been available when new, just over 1,000 of the later 512i models like this were built worldwide. Despite the rarity, this particular Boxer had actually been sitting outside for several years, so the restoration project would involve considerably more than just some new tires and a bit of polishing compound.
There’s a corresponding thread for this video montage over at FerrariChat, and it’s absolutely worth reading all the way through. The Boxer’s savior is a forum member named Newman who lists himself as being a professional Ferrari tech from Barrie, Ontario, and judging from the photos, he definitely knows his way around a 512 BB. The restoration began in late 2014, and as you can see in the video, the project took the Ferrari right down to a bare shell.

The neglected supercar needed body work and a fresh coat of paint, but the real magic happens with Newman’s disassembly and refurbishment of the fabulous Ferrari flat-12 engine. It appears to have suffered the worst from sitting outside in the elements, but the end result is an amazingly beautiful Ferrari mill.
In fact, the whole car looks positively awesome. Going by the posts in the FerrariChat thread, over three years elapsed from when the Boxer came apart, to the final test drive earlier this year. To Newman’s credit he captured hundreds of photos of the process, and are we ever glad he did because they serve not just as a timeline of the progress, but also a time capsule showing an all-original Berlinetta Boxer. With so few manufactured, simply having that kind of historical reference is almost as good as having the fully restored supercar. Almost.

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motor1
 
Very stylish Ferrari and now a classic, it was the big daddy for the 308 GTB. This car, together with the Countach and Testarossa were my bedroom poster cars when I was a kid.

I had one similar to this:

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Awesome detailing done by these guys on this barn find BB 512 which was in a garage for 28 years!!

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The indicator button is the most intuitive steering wheel function there is lol. It’s the one that actually makes sense.
 

Ferrari

Ferrari S.p.A. is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari (1898-1988), the company built its first car in 1940, adopted its current name in 1945, and began to produce its current line of road cars in 1947. Ferrari became a public company in 1960, and from 1963 to 2014 it was a subsidiary of Fiat S.p.A. It was spun off from Fiat's successor entity, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, in 2016.
Official website: Ferrari

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