456 (456 GT, GTA, 456M)

Back to the Front

When the 412 ended in 1989 Ferrari was left without a four-seater for the first time in a quarter of a century, and without a front-engined road car at all. The 456 was the answer, announced in September 1992 and shown publicly at the Paris Salon the following month, with a launch dinner at the Palais du Cinquantenaire in Brussels. Ferrari's own account calls it the marque's first car designed with the twenty-first century in mind, and the first modern Ferrari to revert to the classic front-engine, rear-drive layout. The engine sat well back in the tubular steel frame and the six-speed gearbox was mounted in unit with the differential at the rear, giving a weight split that period testers measured at roughly 49/51 with four aboard. Twin airbags became standard in mid-1996.

A New V12

The Tipo F116 was the first all-new road-car V12 Ferrari had produced since the Colombo engine of the 1940s. It displaced 5,474 cc from an 88 mm bore and 75 mm stroke, used a 65-degree vee angle, twin overhead camshafts per bank, four valves per cylinder, Nikasil-treated alloy liners and dry-sump lubrication, with Bosch Motronic M2.7 management. Ferrari quoted 442 CV at 6,250 rpm and 550 Nm at 4,500 rpm. In 1996 the F116 C arrived with Motronic M5.2 and, for the 1998 456M, a revised firing order adopted for smoothness; output was unchanged. The engine later took the over-four-litre class of the International Engine of the Year awards in 2000 and 2001, and Ferrari sold the car as the fastest production four-seater in the world, a claim repeated in RM Sotheby's cataloguing.

Camardella's Shape

Pininfarina's Pietro Camardella, working under Lorenzo Ramaciotti, gave the 456 curved, free-flowing surfaces in place of the wedge profiles and side strakes of the Testarossa era, with pop-up headlamps, a long bonnet and a Kamm tail carrying an electronically raised rear spoiler. The body was aluminium, bonded to the steel frame through a Feran interlayer, and the cabin was trimmed throughout in Connolly leather with electrically adjustable seats and four usable places. Period road testers found the steering over-assisted but the balance benign, one comparison with a Daytona describing a car that could be steered on the throttle with unusual ease for something of its size. Pininfarina built the bodies, with 1,435 completed by 1996 according to the encyclopedia record.

The Automatic Question

The 456 was launched as a manual only. Ferrari then added a four-speed automatic, the GTA, with the gearbox again in unit with the rear differential, its first automatic since the 400 and 412 line. Exactly when the GTA went on sale is genuinely unclear: supercars.net dates it from 1993, autoevolution from 1995, Classic & Sports Car and The Intercooler from 1996, Forza from 1997, and Classic Trader simply says shortly after launch. The gearbox's origin is contested too, Wikipedia crediting FF Developments in Michigan and Forza a Ricardo unit with General Motors internals. What is agreed is that buyers took to it: Classic & Sports Car reports 70 per cent of customers chose the automatic, and by the 456M the split was roughly even.

Modificato and Scaglietti

The 456M, shown at Geneva in March 1998, was an update rather than a new car. The nose was reshaped with a larger intake and integrated fog lamps, adding 33 mm to overall length, the bonnet became carbon fibre, the electronically raised spoiler gave way to a fixed undertray element, the front suspension arms were revised to limit dive, front discs grew to 330 mm, and ASR traction control and electronic brake-force distribution arrived, the latter a first for Ferrari. Interior trim, door seals and the audio system were improved. In March 2002 a run of thirty two-tone 456M GT Scaglietti cars, ten with manual gearboxes, launched the Carrozzeria Scaglietti personalisation programme; the Geneva show car in Grigio Nuvolari over Grigio Scaglietti was specified for Michael Schumacher. Production ended in 2003, or 2004 in some accounts, and the 612 Scaglietti took over.

The V12 itself is robust, but cam-cover and inlet-manifold gasket leaks are routine on used examples and neglected oil changes produce sludge. Valve-guide wear is the expensive engine fault, described by Forza as a five-figure repair. Engine mounts sag with age. The four-speed automatic is the costly transmission: rough changes signal an impending rebuild and guides describe rectification as expensive, while a manual clutch change is also a substantial bill. The self-levelling rear suspension leaks as its membranes age, rear dampers weep but can be rebuilt, and worn bushes dull the handling. Electrics are the most frequent complaint: window regulators and their adjustment, door seals and wind noise on pre-M cars, intermittent switchgear, electrically adjustable seats that stop working, and the sticky-button syndrome that affects every Ferrari of the period. Pop-up headlamps corrode internally; stainless replacements for the internal disc exist. The gearbox oil cooler and its pipes corrode and were the subject of a recall. Fuel-tank rubber mounts disintegrate. Front tyres and brakes have a short life, around 10,000 miles according to Forza, on a heavy car with 442 CV. Air-conditioning compressors are a known five-figure-in-dollars repair. Servicing costs from Forza: annual inspection 1,000-2,000 dollars, a major service 6,000-8,000 dollars for a manual and 8,000-10,000 for an automatic.

The gearbox decides the price band before anything else, so establishing that a car is a genuine factory manual, and for a 456M whether it is one of the small number of right-hand-drive manuals, is the first task. The cam belt is the recurring cost: guides quote replacement every three years or 30,000 km, or five years in one UK source, and unlike the mid-engined cars the engine stays in the car, so a documented recent belt is worth paying for rather than a reason for suspicion. Look for oil at the cam covers and inlet manifold gaskets, and for tired engine mounts, which owners report can allow the engine to settle onto the oil-pressure sender. The self-levelling hydraulic rear suspension shares its reservoir with the power steering and its membranes go porous, so a car sitting low at the back or leaving damp patches under the rear dampers needs the system costed. Ferrari's own recommendation was new dampers every six years. Electric windows are the known weak point: regulators fail, seals leak and wind noise at speed was common enough on the original car that the 456M received revised door seals; Classic & Sports Car quotes 1,250 pounds per regulator. Pop-up headlamps corrode internally and may judder. Check the transmission oil cooler and its pipework for corrosion, as recalls covered gearbox oil radiator pipe leaks, fuel leaks, brake fluid loss and the handbrake. Inside, the soft-touch switchgear goes sticky, the centre console can flake, and sun-exposed dashboard and parcel-shelf leather shrinks. Air-conditioning compressors are quoted at around 5,000 pounds. The best cars are the ones that have been driven and serviced annually, not the ones stored.

As of September 2026, classic.com's benchmark for the 456 GT stands at $86,088 with an average recorded sale of $77,914, on a rising trend, with tracked results running from $28,500 for a 1993 car in December 2022 to $230,000 for a 1995 car in September 2025. The 456M GT benchmark is $107,152 with an average sale of $105,014 and a floor of $66,000 in January 2024. Automatics sit well below: the 456 GTA benchmark is $52,672 and the 456M GTA $55,252, and classic.com's lowest recorded 456 result is $12,400 for a 1999 456M GTA project in June 2026. Across all four variants the average sale is $71,052. Auction evidence supports the spread. RM Sotheby's sold a 14,353-mile Nero 1995 456 GT for $95,200 and a 21,345-mile Rosso Barchetta 1999 456M GT for $123,200 at Monterey in August 2024, both quoted as sold-for figures, and classic.com records manual 456 GTs between $87,000 and $145,000 at auction in the first eight months of 2026. In the United Kingdom, The Classic Valuer gives a 456 GT median of 49,199 pounds with a peak of 175,512 pounds in September 2025; Classic & Sports Car's guide put manuals 10 to 15 per cent above automatics and right-hand-drive 456M manuals a further 25 per cent up. The premium for a manual, and above all a 456M manual, is the defining feature of this market.