LaFerrari

Make
Ferrari
Segment
Coupe

Monaco, a wealthy city-state in Western Europe, is a place reserved for the mega-rich. It's exactly the sort of locale where you might expect to see any number of rare, exclusive supercars. Stick around long enough, and you might see a greatest hits list of both modern and historic supercars, such as the Ferrari F40. Although in this case, we wish we had better circumstances to share in that regard.

This flaming Ferrari was spotted burning on a city street, dangerously close to an occupied apartment building. In the video, originally posted to Instagram by user smih_carspotting, someone in the building can even be seen trying in vain to put the fire out with a garden hose from a second-floor balcony. That person's efforts don't seem to have done much good, and by the time first responders finally reached the car, it was scorched beyond repair.

As you can see from the photos, the paint was completely burned away from most of the car, with the exception of the front clamshell, which seems to have escaped with only modest damage. The interior was burned beyond recognition, as were the doors and roof, and all the glass has been destroyed. Only the wheels appear to be in a decent - perhaps salvageable - state of repair.

This is a tragic event for the owner, to be sure, but the loss of an F40 is also a sad day for car enthusiasts everywhere. It was the last car to receive Enzo Ferrari's personal approval before his passing in 1988, and the F40 was built to celebrate the marque's 40th anniversary. Eventually came the F50, the Enzo, and most recently the LaFerrari in the lineage of milestone Ferrari supercars.

Just 400 examples of the Ferrari F40 were planned, although the Italian sports car manufacturer ended up producing more than triple that, finally calling it quits after a production run totaling 1,311 units. The car's body was among the most cutting-edge of the time, employing rigorous aerodynamics testing and consisting of a combination of Kevlar, carbon fiber, and aluminum, making the car exceptionally light.

Power came from a twin-turbocharged 2.9L V8 that was capable of spinning up to 7,750 rpm - low for a Ferrari, but remarkably high for a turbo engine of that vintage.

This isn't the first time we've seen a Ferrari F40 burnt to a crisp; in 2017, one was horrifically charred by a fire as the owner drove it to go and pick up his new LaFerrari Aperta. That event was doubly tragic as it was believed that his car was one of eight original F40 prototypes.

Vintage car ownership is heartbreaking.