Ferrari F12 Berlinetta Lusso by Touring

 Ferrari F12 Berlinetta Lusso by Touring

Ten years ago, Ferrari 250 Lussos were somewhat reasonably priced, perhaps even undervalued cars. Then Steve McQueen’s brown one sold for a jillion smackers. That, coupled with an overall rising tide in the sports-car collector market, especially where Ferraris and Porsches were concerned, made the Lusso a thing to have with a capital Thing. So it’s no large shock that Touring Superleggera’s follow-up to the Alfa Romeo 8C–based Disco Volante revival bears the Lusso badge. To our relief, the new creation, which starts as a Ferrari F12berlinetta, ain’t exactly homely.

 Ferrari F12 Berlinetta Lusso by Touring

Touring’s long, blue, new Berlinetta Lusso takes the edge off of the F12’s fastback styling, cutting a little notch into the deck and generally smoothing everything out while cribbing a character line from the old Touring-bodied 166MM. The F12’s aggressive Modern Guy stance gets tamped down in favor of a more classical look that doesn’t page as deeply through the retro book as did the Disco Volante redux. In fact, we might say that it’s just right. Not since Pininfarina’s 612 Kappa of nearly a decade ago have we seen a Ferrari tweaked with just the right subtle cues. Of course, the Scag was poorly shaped to start with; what Pininfarina managed with it was shockingly good. The F12, in contrast, is a good-looking thing that might just be a bit overstyled, a fine shape made slightly boring by visual clutter.

 Ferrari F12 Berlinetta Lusso by Touring

Though it’s not an official Ferrari product—note the lack of prancing-horse badges to avoid raising Maranello’s ire—the Lusso is the most well-resolved front-engined car with a Ferrari powerplant since the 550/575 series left production a decade ago. The underpinnings are all left intact and unfutzed-with. Still, Touring claims they have more than 5000 hours in the thing, and we can believe it. They go on to estimate that the rebodied car should top out at 211 mph, which is slower than Ferrari’s claimed 220-plus Vmax for the F12 yet still 26-mph faster than Joe Walsh’s Maserati.

The new body bits were crafted from both carbon fiber and aluminum, with the latter panels hand-beaten over an epoxy buck. The company claims they will supply replacement parts for the life of the vehicle. Once all the new exterior pieces were fabbed up, Touring bathed them in a hue they refer to as Azzuro Niourlague, otherwise known as “rad blue.” The bulk of the interior is done up in a darker, navy-esque shade, with buttery tan leather seats and door-panel accents.

 Ferrari F12 Berlinetta Lusso by Touring

Coachbuilt machines aren’t always an improvement over the original, but Touring’s rethink of the F12 bucks that convention. Thankfully, there are four more of them slated for construction. Dear The Well-Heeled: If you people have your wits about you, you will get your orders in now.