The epic musician Eric Clapton bought a sensational three million pound sports car, which has been made by the Italian car maker, Ferrari. This special SP12 EC model is described by Ferrari as being "created as homage to Clapton's career and his long lasting experience as a Ferrari owner." The SP in the model name stands for special project and EC denotes Eric Clapton.
For this model, which took two years to be developed, Clapton paid 3 million pounds. The 67 years old singer confessed to the Ferrari magazine in an interview that the beginning of the project was like "being in front of a gigantic blank canvas that had to be painted on." He further said that being able to supervise the assembly of the car was "one of the most satisfying things I've ever done."
The SP12 EC shares platform with the 458 Italia model, however the styling of the car is inspired from 512 BB of Ferrari, which also happens to be singer's favourite model. Clapton has owned three 512 BB in the past. The unique SP12 EC has been designed by the Centro Stile Ferrari together with engineers of Pininfarina and Ferrari.
A larger air intake adorning the front of the car, grey slats featuring on the front boot lid and a gorgeous two-tone red and black paint scheme forms the hand-built body of the car. In order to fulfil demand from its ultra rich customers who want a unique model, Ferrari had set up One-Off Programme in 2007, to which this car belongs.
Any car that is built under this unique program by Italian car maker should share its platform with any existing model from the company. The car maker will also give Clapton, the tools which were used to make this car, so that no second model of SP12 EC rolls out.
According to a Ferrari spokesperson, "Just like music is created, applying the right notes in the right places to build a musical score, so was the creative process behind the SP12 EC."
