This is the 700bhp, Ferrari 599-based Kode57

Ken Okuyama is a considerable dude. TopGear.com met him a few years ago during the Tokyo motor show, where the former Pininfarina design boss – he oversaw the Ferrari Enzo, the Maserati Birdcage concept, and Jim Glickenhaus’s trend-setting one-off P4/5, the car that inadvertently kick-started Ferrari’s in-house special projects division – to talk about his new-look Shinkansen train, his fantastic eyewear, and most importantly the anime-infused Kode9 roadster. Ken, we realised, was the new front-runner in the return to high-end automotive bespoke. In fact, he currently claims to be the only carrozzeria in Japan.

Now he’s done it again, upping the power output somewhat with the Kode57, a two-seater barchetta that turned up at The Quail gathering during Monterey car week. The name references the fact that 1957 was something of a watershed year in motor racing, when various legends in the making first appeared.

Top of the list in this context, we suspect, is the pontoon-fendered Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa. You see, Ferrari fans with keen memories might spot something of a resemblance to 2000’s Pininfarina concept car, the Rossa, a connection underlined by the presence of a modified 599 GTB chassis beneath the Kode57’s concepty lines, and indeed a 599 powertrain.

The magnificent 6.0-litre V12 has been worked over by German Ferrari tuner Novitec Rosso, the regular car’s 612bhp output now nudging 700bhp, with an accompanying rise in torques. Novitec has also fiddled with the suspension, and the front end can be lifted to avoid an uncool kerb-meets-front diffuser interface. The Kode57 clothes the 599’s innards entirely in carbon fibre body panels, and amongst other styling stand-outs features doors that raise upwards and backwards, and see-through front wings.

"The opening around the front wheels looks great, and I love the fact that you can see the suspension," Ken tells TG.com. "But it also helps reduce the build-up of high-pressure that usually occurs around the front wheels. We are working on ‘cycle’ fenders, though, because the design could send detritus up along the side of the car."

Assuming the end-user actually does use the car, rather than just displaying it. Ken is coy about how much the Kode57 costs, but admits it’s in the region of $1.9m (£1.5m). He also says that three have already been sold, only one of which is in Japan. "I want to spread the love," Ken says with a smile.

"This is the latest chapter in the rise of bespoke," he adds. "My clients love it because it allows them to be involved in a project from scratch, to work from sketches, and to be intimately involved in the whole process."