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Has anyone seen Lapo Elkann’s 'Green over Tank' Ferrari 458 Army?

With the world in crisis mode, the ironic military gear that many of us rocked in the Nineties might have lost it’s innocence. But still, Lapo Elkann’s Ferrari 458 Army wears its camouflage look pretty consequentially – from the front air inlets to the cockpit and the engine bay.

From Hip Hop to Grunge and Techno, those baggy camouflage jackets and pants from the local army store were all the hype in the 1990s. Later, the trend was picked up by streetwear brands from Paris to Tokyo, from A.P.C. to A Bathing Ape. In the early 2000s, we saw the first sportscars covered in ironic, usually matte green or grey camo paint race across Europe at the first Gumball 3000 rallies. Since then, wrapping your Ferrari or Lamborghini in combat foil has become a bit of a cliché pastime for the Jeunesse dorée, while manufacturers themselves started to get more creative with the wrappings used to camouflage their latest prototypes from car spotters and journalists when tested on the road. 

And while we at Classic Driver prefer our Ferraris in classic shades like Blu Pozzi or Grigio Ingrid, this Army-style Ferrari 458 Italia coming up with RM Sotheby’s at their Monaco sale on May 11 has raised our attention: Specced by no other than Lapo Elkann, the flamboyant Fiat heir and founder of Garage Italia truly got the customization job done right. While the exterior is wrapped in dark green, woodlands-style camouflage, the interior sports a lighter, seemingly hand-painted jungle leather pattern that goes surprisingly well with the chocolate brown dashboard, green-tinted carbon elements and bright red Ferrari signs. Even the V8 engine is covered in the stylized green camouflage pattern. And while Elkann’s Ferrari 458 Army will certainly take the center stage on any city boulevard, it will blend with the background in your local forest – just like Arnold Schwarzenegger did in Predator. RM Sotheby’s expects this icon of contemporary pop culture to fetch 250.000 to 350.000 euros, making it one of the most expensive 458s on the market, but also one of the cheapest military vehicles you can buy.