A 1996 Ferrari F512 M will stand among the headline lots at the Bonhams Cars sale scheduled for May 3, 2026 in Miami. The car was delivered new in Switzerland and comes from the final phase of the model’s production, a detail that increases its appeal among collectors who closely follow Ferrari history. The F512 M represents the final chapter of the Testarossa family and one of the last production Ferraris with a rear-mounted V12, a characteristic that gives it a very special place in the history of the Maranello brand.
A 1996 Ferrari F512 M heads to Miami as a standout Bonhams auction lot
The car heading to auction arrives with strong credentials. At the time of cataloging, it showed just over 29,000 kilometers, and it recently earned both the Platinum Award and Best of Class honors at the 2026 Cavallino Classic in Boca Raton, Florida. Those recognitions confirm both its condition and overall authenticity. Ferrari unveiled the F512 M at the 1994 Paris Motor Show as the final evolution of the bloodline that began with the Testarossa and continued with the 512 TR. From a styling standpoint, it never won the same near-universal praise as its predecessors, but over time it built a different kind of reputation based on rarity, mechanical character, and a historical importance that has become more obvious with each passing year.
Under the rear deck sits the famous 5.0-liter flat-12, which Ferrari brought to 440 horsepower in this final evolution. Compared with the 512 TR, Ferrari also cut about 20 kilograms of weight, a change that made the model more focused, just as the letter M in its name suggested, standing for Modificata. Ferrari claimed a 0-100 km/h time of 4.7 seconds and a top speed of around 315 km/h, figures that confirmed the progress made over the previous generation.
Ferrari built just 501 examples of the F512 M, and the model left the stage in 1996 before giving way to the 550 Maranello, which marked the return of the front-mounted V12 and the definitive end of the era of rear-engined production Ferraris. The example heading to Miami therefore represents not only an important collector Ferrari, but also a tangible reminder of a very specific era in the company’s history, one in which the flat-12 mounted behind the cabin defined the identity of Maranello’s most iconic grand tourers.
