Man who's daily driven a Ferrari F40 for 22 years bought it outright in cash before he even owned a house

This Ferrari F40 has spent 22 years as a daily driver, which is probably the most outrageous sentence you will read today.

While most examples live under silk covers and climate control, this one has seen rain, track days, road trips and even the Nürburgring in the wet.

Its owner, Charles, did not just buy into the F40 dream.

Instead, he moved in permanently, doing so before he even owned a house.

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He owned two separate F40s at one point in time

Charles’ story was featured on a recent video on the Supercar Driver YouTube channel.

When Charles bought his Ferrari F40 in 2004, it was not the seven-figure blue-chip asset it is today.

Back then, it was ‘just’ a £163,000 ($228,800) supercar.

Thanks to an unexpected dividend payout that landed in his bank account, that exact amount suddenly became available.

Instead of putting it toward property or investments, he went straight to renowned specialist DK Engineering with a banker’s draft for every pound he had.

Sitting in the showroom were two legends: the F40 and a Ferrari 288 GTO.

The GTO was rarer, and it was arguably more historically significant.

But the F40 was louder and more dramatic, and the heart wants what it wants.

Charles negotiated the price down to match the exact sum on his draft and drove away in the more extreme of the two.

This was in no way sound financial planning.

But as far as car decisions go, it was an unforgettable one.

For a brief period, he even owned two F40s simultaneously, despite still not owning a house.

When values began to rise, he sold one at a significant profit, effectively covering the cost of the yellow example he still drives today.

In his mind, that makes his current F40 ‘free’ which perhaps explains why he has never treated it like a museum piece, instead using the Ferrari almost as a daily driver.

Unlike many collector-grade F40s, Charles’ supercar has evolved.

It now wears LM and GTE-style upgrades inspired by the race versions developed with Michelotto.

There is a more aggressive rear wing, a deeper diffuser, and chassis reinforcements to sharpen the car’s responses.

The twin-turbocharged 2.9-litre V8 has also been uprated to produce around 550 horsepower, adjustable via a discreet boost controller.

It remains ferocious, but it is a known ferocity.

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It’s a very well-used Ferrari F40

These upgrades weren’t made for nothing.

Charles has driven the car across Europe, tracked it at Donington and Anglesey, and even tackled the Nürburgring in heavy rain.

He has slept inside the car during European road trips to satisfy insurance stipulations.

He’s even comfortable enough to lend it to trusted friends.

The car’s odometer showed more than 22,000 km (13,670 miles), and nearly all of them were added by him.

Today, with F40 values comfortably in seven-figure territory, most owners would be tempted to preserve their car rather than drive it.

However, this isn’t an option for for Charles.

For him, the adrenaline shakes after a hard drive, the smell of hot turbos ticking as they cool, and the sheer theatre of the thing are the entire point.

The F40 was originally built to celebrate Ferrari’s 40th anniversary, and fittingly, Charles is celebrating the F40 every single day by making use of the storied supercar.

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