Diamond-Studded Ferrari Book Gets Exotic Car Price Tag

The base price of a new Ferrari 458 Italia is $225,325. But just think—for only $49,675 more, you could own Ferrari’s latest and greatest product: The Official Ferrari Opus, a book detailing Ferrari’s past and present, limited to 400 copies, and one book per country.

Labeled “the most exclusive book in the world” by its British publishers at the Opus Media Group, the book aims to be the Gutenberg Bible of collectible novelty prancing-horse-related filigree. The 852-page tome is inlaid with a genuine silver Ferrari logo composed of 400 diamonds, almost guaranteeing that it won’t show up at the 26th Annual Lake Woebegon Library Book Swap and Chili Cook-Off. Buyers will get their money’s worth, however: its 200,000 words and 2,000 photos details every single road and race car Ferrari has ever built since 1947 as well as biographies of every driver ever to pass through Scuderia Ferrari.

And as if all this talk of “exclusivity” was enough to make one reach for the smelling salts, owners of the Ferrari Opus will be entered into a drawing to win one of five Ferrari F2005 replica F1 cars, as driven by Michael Schumacher in the 2005 season.

But don’t fret, Sir Richard Branson: more plebian versions are available as well. There’s the Enzo edition, limited to 400 copies and available in a carbon-fiber case and “personally signed by all living Ferrari world champions on an individually numbered, silver-foiled signature sheet,” for only $37,500. There’s the Cavallino Rampante edition, which is merely autographed by Ferrari senior management, for $7,000. And for retiree grandmothers looking to get their beloved nephews that special stocking stuffer, the Classic edition starts at only $4,100, limited to—unsurprisingly enough, given Ferrari’s enthusiasm for exclusivity—4,100 copies.

You can witness a copy at your local Formula One race when Ferrari takes the book on a promotional world tour, where it will be signed by Ferrari greats such as president Luca di Montezemolo. Copy #1 will be auctioned for charity in Ferrari’s home of Maranello at the end of this year. But Ferrari has also released an app for the iPad and iPhone with excerpts from the book, available in the iTunes store. The app, of course, is free.

No word yet on when the official Ferrari the Coloring Book, Ferrari: the Lunch Box, Ferrari: the Breakfast Cereal, or Ferrari: the Flamethrower will be released.

[Source: New York Times]