A certain item being sold online is popular enough if it gets a number of hourly views. But it’s been listed for over two years, and its price has nearly tripled since then. If this listing was just for the original hubcaps from Grampa’s old Ford Skyliner, we would just shrug and move on.

But this eBay listing is for a Ferrari LaFerrari engine that had an original asking price of $285,000 back in 2017 but is now listed for the outrageous sum of $800,000. And so far no buyer has been ready to part with this kind of cash, as Motor1 recently reported.

The mysterious listing

The listing states that the LaFerrari engine is in used condition and is accompanied with the note “2017 FERRARI LA FERRARI ENGINE 20 miles on it”. The description is vague but urgent: “2017 FERRARI LA FERRARI ENGINE with 20 miles … very important.. Ferrari will not build no more Laferrari engine for stock … so get it while you can.”

Three photos are displayed in the listing. None of them reveal much detail, and one is slightly out of focus. But the engine shown in them does indeed look as if it might be a LaFerrari engine. The seller, we suppose, assumes that potential buyers have seen enough Ferrari engines to say, “Yes, of course, that’s a LaFerrari engine in great barely-used condition!”

We know that the seller behind the fioranosportscar eBay account owns a high-end auto repair shop based in the Miami area. The engine had been listed previously by someone holding the eBay account of vintage-n-exotics, who might be the same individual. He or she has been doing business on eBay for some time, with mixed results.

Regardless of who the seller is, he or she is correct in claiming that Ferrari won’t be building more LaFerraris. This car is, truly, the last of its kind.

A rare, gorgeous Ferrari

The Ferrari LaFerrari, codenamed Project 150, was the last model made by Ferrari that had a mid-engine V12 design. The name “LaFerrari” translates to “The Ferrari,” indicating that the automaker designated this car to be the ultimate Ferrari.  LaFerrari was the first Ferrari that wasn’t designed by Pininfarina since 1973.

From 2013 to 2016, Ferrari offered a coupe version of LaFerrari. Only 500 or so were made. The LaFerrari Aperta, an open-top roadster, was produced from 2016 to 2018. These were even fewer in number than the coupes: a mere 210. 

Both the coupe and the roadster were relatively lightweight at about 3,500 pounds thanks to their carbon fiber monocoque bodies. The coupe had butterfly doors, while the roadster had swan doors that opened at an upward angle.

LaFerrari’s massive 6.3-liter V12 engine produced 789 hp and 516 lb-ft of torque. The horsepower was increased by 161 hp through hybrid assistance. In the listing, no mention was made of this hybrid system. Nor was a transmission, wiring harness or engine control unit described.

This supercar went from zero to 62 mph in less than 3.0 seconds, according to Ferrari. Its top speed exceeded 217 mph. Road and Track confirmed that the 2014 LaFerrari was the fastest car it ever tested, as of December 2018. R&T proved that it went from zero to 60 in 2.4 seconds and a 9.7-second quarter mile. 

If the engine listed on eBay was manufactured in 2017, it means that the car it came from was a LaFerrari Aperta. This is rarer than an engine from a LaFerrari coupe. And to get an idea of the LaFerrarri Aperta’s rareness translated into monetary value, the last one was auctioned off in 2017 for a cool $10 million.

More questions than answers

We’ve had a chance to pause and appreciate the fierce beauty and electrifying speed that is LaFerrari. But since the eBay listing was so devoid of details, many questions remain.

First, where is the car that belongs to the engine? This car must be in a registry somewhere since there only 210 LaFerrari Apertas. Did a hapless driver wreck the car and simply leave the engine with the seller? Or did the seller obtain it by some other means?

Why did the seller decide to hike the price of the engine from $285,000 to almost three times as much? Was it when Ferrari announced it would no longer produce LaFerrari? Or when word of the $10 million Aperta got out?

Also, what kind of buyer would purchase a standalone Ferrari engine? More importantly, can this engine be installed in any vehicle at all? Someone at eBay must know that it might be a questionable idea: the understated advice at the top of the listing reads, “Check if this part fits your vehicle.” And at a price closing in on almost a million dollars, it’s way too expensive to be a collector’s item—even for a lifelong car enthusiast such as Jay Leno.

We’re not sure if there are any legal or ethical problems that come with buying an engine like this, either.

But when it comes down to it the biggest question is: why would anyone try to sell the heart of such a magnificent car on eBay? And for such a big pot of money?

It’s possible that we’ll never find out. But for the buyer who wants to pay a king’s ransom for this engine, we can tell you about an excellent deal out there for the Brooklyn Bridge.