Following a long line of one-off creations, Ferrari has built another one-make masterpiece, called the SP3JC. Based on the Ferrari F12tdf, the SP3JC is effectively the F12 Spider we never had. It has no roof (obviously), and it wears a funky tri-color paint scheme that really doesn’t do justice to the exclusivity of this model. Scottish collector John Collins owns this model after commissioning Ferrari to build it more than three years ago. The wait was long, but the final product made it worth it.

What makes the Ferrari SP3JC special?

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The mere fact that this roofless Ferrari F12tdf is the only one of its kind is special enough on its own. That’d be the safe answer. The more elaborate one means that we’d have to dive into the story behind this creation, specifically the man, John Collins, who commissioned Ferrari to create it.

See, Collins was once a freelance journalist and photographer who worked hard enough in his early years that he was able to not only afford a brand-new Ferrari 246 Dino almost 40 years ago but to also use it as his personal daily driver. That alone makes him a hero in my book. Later on, Collins traded in his pen and camera and ventured into the buy-and-sell business, flipping high-end cars after he sold one to a local dealer, who immediately turned around and listed the car at a higher price. In an interview with Classic Driver, Collins played the “if he could do it, I could do it” card, and thus began a buy-and-sell career that eventually led to him founding Talacrest, a London-based classic Ferrari dealership that has sold more than 1,700 Ferraris since its inception in 1989. Today, Talacrest Ferrari is considered the world’s number one classic Ferrari dealer, a distinction it earned after selling just about every classic Ferrari known to man, including a Ferrari 275 GTB/2 six-carburetor alloy car that it has sold no less than six times in the last 30 years.

That’s John Collins’ story. Knowing it makes it easier to understand why Ferrari accommodated his request to build him the car we now know as the SP3JC. It’s unclear what the nomenclature means, but the “JC” in its name likely alludes to Collins’ own initials. The car itself is a doozy. The tri-color aesthetic of the SP3JC is a nod to the 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO that American billionaire Christopher Cox damaged in a minor crash back in 2012 with, of all cars, a freakin’ Hyundai.

That said, the treatment and placements of the colors on the SP3JC leaves a lot to be desired. The body is predominantly white, but the front section is dressed in a flashy blue color. Yellow accents and liveries abound throughout the body, including the rim area of the wheels. Aesthetically, Ferrari made a few stylistic tweaks to what was once a Ferrari F12tdf. Sure, the long-hood-short-rear-deck proportions of the F12tdf are still there, but a few elements have been changed, including a reshaped front grille and the addition of more prominent intakes in the corners. The rear section of the SP3JC features a more distinctive design alteration. The massive intakes on the F12tdf that contain the brake lights and the quad exhaust pipes are gone. In their place is a more streamlined rear bumper that comes with a more prominent rear diffuser. The rear end also features a pair of horizontal gills and just above it are two transparent panels that make the engine visible. Obviously, the biggest change in the SP3JC is the absence of an actual roof, and when you look at it from certain angles and see how the overall profile of the supercar changes — those carbon-fiber rollover hoops look sexy on the SP3JC — it’s easy to think of the what-could-have-beens had Ferrari decided to develop a convertible version of the F12tdf. At the very least, the one-off SP3JC gives us a peek into that world.

Inside, the Ferrari SP3JC sports the same tri-color treatment. The seats are finished in fine blue and white while the rest of the cabin is awash in black leather with matching blue contrast stitching. In other words, the Ferrari SP3JC looks about as sexy as a Victoria’s Secret supermodel.

There are no engine upgrades to speak of, which is, admittedly, surprising. The V-12 engine can produce a whopping 769 horsepower 519 pound-feet of torque. It’s highly likely, too, that the SP3JC’s V-12 unit is paired with a bespoke version of Ferrari’s dual-clutch transmission just like the F12tdf. If it is, Collins should have a field day taking advantage of the improvements made to this component, the results of which include six-percent shorter gear ratios, 30-percent faster upshifts, and 40-percent quicker downshifts. The Ferrari SP3JC should also come with Ferrari’s Virtual Short Wheelbase system, which is basically a more sophisticated term for four-wheel steering. The F12tdf used this system to great aplomb, helping it achieve sharper turns and increased stability, two things that John Collins would probably want to have in his SP3JC.

There’s no mention of performance times, though as a convertible, it’s possible that the SP3JC isn’t as quick to 62 mph compared to the F12berlinetta. If the latter is capable of rocketing to that speed in 2.9 seconds before hitting 123 mph in only 7.9 seconds, it stands to reason that the SP3JC can do the same 0-to-62-mph time in about 3.0 seconds. Top speed for the one-off Ferrari should approach anywhere from 210 to 220 mph.

At this point, I can’t blame you if you end up wanting your own Ferrari SP3JC. Unfortunately, all of you are about as close to getting your hands on the SP3JC as I am. That’s to say that, unless Collins flips it for a profit as he’s done multiple times in the past, our chances of owning this one-of-a-kind creation are slim to none.

Ferrari SP3JC Drivetrain Specifications

Further reading

Read our full review on the 2018 Ferrari F12tdf.

Read our full review on the 1962 - 1964 Ferrari 250 GTO.