How rare was the Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale crashed in Melbourne?

When it comes to supercars like Ferrari, there's rare and then there's RARE.

For example, it is estimated there are about 12,000 examples of the mid-engined Ferrari 488 (produced between 2015 and 2019).

Among these, there was a limited edition run of about 3500 examples of the high-performance variant 488 Pista.

For context, that's roughly the same number of Toyota HiLux 4x4 utes sold in Australia last month.

However, the Ferrari at the centre of a dash-cam crash video from Melbourne last weekend is no ordinary Ferrari – and it certainly wasn't sold in Toyota HiLux numbers.

The car that was crashed in Melbourne was a 2004 Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale, the performance variant of the Ferrari 360 Modena.

A total of 8800 Ferrari 360 Modena coupes were built in the early 2000s, along with a further 7565 examples of the Spider convertible. But there were only 1288 examples of the Ferrari Challenge Stradale coupe.

Just 136 of the 360CS are reported by the Challenge Stradale registry as being right-hand drive, with just 15 of those built for the Australian or New Zealand market, and only eight noted as being officially imported into Australia (as opposed to personal imports or via third-party suppliers).

And now, after this spectacular crash, there is one less example of this rare machine on local roads.

Of the Australian-delivered cars, four were painted in the Ferrari F1-inspired Rosso Scuderia (of the others, there is one each in silver, black, yellow and the traditional Rosso Corsa red).

The crashed car appears to have been fitted with the Italian tri-colour stripe, which is applied prior to the car's final clear-coat so it cannot be removed.

So while the Ferrari in the crash is not quite one-of-one, it does make this specific 360CS particularly rare.

In terms of value, there's not a lot of data to go on.

Internationally, there is only one 360 Challenge Stradale for sale, a left-hand-drive example in North America for $US299k ($AU450k), but the rarer right-hand-drive cars tend to demand a higher price.

So the Ferrari that was crashed on the weekend could be estimated to be worth somewhere between $AU500,000 and $AU600,000.

Aside from being a limited edition, the 360CS has a mild power bump of 18kW (to 312kW) from its 3.6-litre V8 as well as a 110kg weight saving, tipping the scales at just 1430kg.

This lowers the claimed 0-100km/h time from 4.9 to 4.1 seconds, while a special race-mode exhaust bypass, makes sure the 360CS will be heard long before it can be seen.

Enjoy this classic Top Gear clip to see the Ferrari 360 CS in action.

And one more, of a much younger me in the only silver (Argento Nurburgring) 360CS delivered to Australia...