For sale: world’s only factory-painted matte black, ex-royal Ferrari Enzo

All 400 Ferrari Enzos came with a mesmeric 6.0-litre V12 and supernatural performance. Only one came finished in Matte Nero Opaco, and you’re looking right at it. This one-of-a-kind, low-mileage macchina magnifica will soon be traded for presumably large amounts of money via a ‘sealed’ RM Sotheby’s auction.

Why large? Because it’s the only Enzo to have emerged from the gates of Maranello wearing a special matte black paint. At a time when most bore the company’s famous rosso corsa – with notable exceptions covering yellow, blue, silver, white (only one in that case) and indeed gloss black – chassis number 136069 was a true factory one-off.

Because the owner was a member of Brunei’s royal family and therefore able to exert some measure of influence to secure something unique; a family famous for its staggering car collection and “a rich history in ordering factory one-offs and bespoke automobiles”. RM tells us the car took just under four months to finish, when on 15 October 2004 it was delivered with Nero Opaco paint and a matching Nero leather interior and Nero carpets.

“The one-off car was kept at the family’s London residence,” says RM Sotheby’s, “where it made the occasional fleeting appearance rolling with menace around the streets of Hampstead, Mayfair and Knightsbridge, before later being brought over to the Asia-Pacific region.”

More recently, the one-off Enzo was given a cosmetic restoration by Carrozzeria Zanasi – Ferrari’s official paint shop that deals only with hypercars, tailor-made and the Icona series – with a final bill ringing in at a cool €110k. The ‘sticky’ switches were replaced, as were the front and rear lights, rear bonnet glass and the entire body was of course, given a full matte black respray.

Unsurprisingly, this one’s only done 5,730km, having been “long hidden away from public eyes”. Once it’s been traded for presumably large amounts of money, one suspects it will once again retreat from the limelight, so better look right at it while you’ve got the chance.