V-12 SA Aperta to be "most exclusive Ferrari ever"

The star Ferrari at the Paris Auto Show next month will be the gorgeous SA Aperta, which Ferrari bills as the "most exclusive Ferrari ever."

Just eighty will be built. The special-edition V-12 roadsters -- based on the 599 GTO coupe -- honor the 80th anniversary of Carrozzeria Pininfarina, the famous Italian auto design and coachbuilding house that's long worked with Ferrari. The SA in the name pays homage to now honorary company chairman Sergio Pininfarina, 84, and his son Andrea, who ran the company before his death in 2008.

Aperta is Italian for "open" and that's how this front-engine, rear-drive roadster is intended to be driven. It has a simple soft top Ferrari says is "designed to be resorted to only if the weather gets particularly bad." Anything more complicated would have added weight, and Ferrari proudly claims the chassis was given the necessary stiffening to be topless, but brought in at the same weight as the coupe.

The powertrain it shares with the 599 is a 670-horsepower, 6.7-liter V-12 mated to a six-speed automated manual -- good for 0-60 in under 3.5 seconds in the coupe. The open SA Aperta sits slightly lower and features aerodynamic fins that sweep back from the roll bars. Ferrari says there are enough color, material and trim choices that no two cars will be alike.

But don't get your heart set on one. Ferrari gave a private showing at this summer's Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance and apparently all 80 of the roughly $450,000 cars are taken.