I’ll admit, I’m a sucker for engine coffee tables. They’re utterly ridiculous, and I’m totally aware of that, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting one. So this coffee table with a Ferrari 360 Modena engine stuck in the middle of it, that’s headed to Bonhams auction, is calling my name.
The coffee table itself isn’t anything overly special; it’s just a 15mm-thick glass table sitting on four stainless steel cylindrical legs. It’s nice but the table itself isn’t what you buy this for. Instead, you buy it for the naturally aspirated 3.6-liter Ferrari V8 sitting in the middle of it. Said engine is replete with the classic Ferrari crackle-red valve covers and intake manifold, prancing horse badges, and exhaust manifold legs. It even still has its camshaft and crankshaft pulleys, fuel injectors, and coil packs, so you can tell that it was once a real, working engine and not just some prop.
At one time, that Ferrari engine made 350 horsepower, 275 pound-feet of torque, and revved to 8,500 rpm. It was one of the best parts of driving the Ferrari 360 Modena, thanks to its willingness to rev and glorious flat-plane crank V8 noise. Surprisingly, it was also one of the most reliable Ferrari engines of all time.
This specific coffee table was made by Gervadino Design, who specializes in making coffee tables out of exotic engines, and measures 150×150 cm (just over 55×55 inches). It’s headed to auction on February 2 in Paris, with an estimated selling price of €19,000-€25,000 ($20,602-$27,108), which is a lot of money for a coffee table. However, I sort of get the appeal of owning it. I’d sit and stare at it, admiring its mechanical beauty, much the same way I often stare at the watch on my wrist. So as objectively silly as a Ferrari engine coffee table is, I’m very jealous of whoever’s rich enough to buy it.
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