Inside Miami’s Craziest Ferrari Collection

I visited Garage 26 on a rainy Friday morning in early September. This secret supercar bunker overlooking suburban Miami will finish construction in the next month or two, and when it’s done, it will be home to some of finest private automobile collections in the world.

As I walked in, I asked a man which floor I was going to. Later that morning, he was introduced to me as the retired Mexican driver Adrián Fernández, who for decades raced Formula Three, IndyCar and LeMans.

“You’re looking for the fifth floor,” he said, stepping over framed awards piled high beside one of his race cars. Today, he co-owns Fernandez Racing, but that morning I found him and an assistant organizing years of memorabilia in his space on the building’s fourth floor.

Wall-to-Wall Supercars

When the elevator doors opened on level five, my eyes met a lineup of Ferraris that could make the Pope curse.

Against a wall of windows sit the Super Six – both the coupe and Aperta versions of the LaFerrari, followed by the Enzo, F50, F40 and my personal holy grail, the 288 GTO. Just a month ago I wrote about never having the chance to see this car in person, and here I was, face-to-face with her.

I said hello to a few other people browsing the collection but they soon left me alone in a roomful of iconic Ferraris. This is as close to church as I get. I had a supremely peaceful morning walking quietly among these magnificent machines, admiring their design, taking photos, running my hands along the seats and bodywork. It was a special experience.

Completing the Super Six

The latest addition to Garage 26 is an exquisite 1985 288 GTO Berlinetta Scaglietti – chassis 56643 – acquired this summer from California. An in-depth report from the incomparable Marcel Massini details the car’s provenance: Sold new through a Hong Kong dealer to Sam Tramiel, the son of Atari founder Jack Tramiel, and collected in person from Maranello, it was observed during the 1985 F1 Grand Prix in Monte Carlo and later relocated by Tramiel to England, where it was sold to a dealer in California and legalized for U.S. roads. This two-owner vehicle arrived in Miami in 2018 with only 7,600 km (just over 4,700 miles) from new. It is one of just 272 in the world.

Sitting beside the 288 GTO is the collection’s 1990 Ferrari F40, purchased new by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen from Grand Prix Motors in Seattle. Today, it still only has about 2,000 miles on it and is in mint condition.

As you turn the corner to a red wall decorated with an oversized Ferrari logo wall and shelf-after-shelf of scale models, the rest of the collection reveals itself. This side is dedicated to limited-edition, track-focused models like the 360 Challenge Stradale, 430 Scuderia, 458 Speciale, 599 GTO and F12tdf. Squeezed in there are a 550 Barchetta and one of just 80 examples of the 599 SA Aperta. As I opened the door and saw floor-to-ceiling red, I knew this could only be the work of one man.

“Yep,” said the owner. “I bought this car from Michael Fux.”

A collection of great investments

Beyond his collectibles, which also includes a whole wing dedicated to Porsche (918 Spyder, Carrera GT and the insanely beautiful 959, among others), the owner has a significant number of “daily drivers,” like the 812 Superfast, Ferrari FF and more. It’s safe to say he’s dedicated to building one of the world’s best Ferrari collections.

It’s not that he isn’t into other brands, but investments differ from passion purchases. We spoke about Pagani and he said that he was actually in the process of ordering a Huayra Roadster but backed out, and made a good point about why: Paganis cost millions new, so where does the value go from there? I love Pagani, but I don’t know if the brand has been around long enough to prove its potential for significant long-term appreciation the way Ferrari and other brands have.

For now, this collector says he’s content with limited-edition Ferraris and Porsches. And as for the building, it was originally going to be a place where serious collectors could purchase display space for their cars, but now it’s going to be an elegant friends-and-family hangout – a destination for likeminded collectors to appreciate one another’s cars in an atmosphere of luxury, privacy and fun. Sounds like my kind of place.

Written by Christian Cipriani