Riva built it, Ferrari styled it, using the inspiring Testarossa supercar, it was a high-end partnership that created the Riva Ferrari 32
It’s one of those immutable rules of the marine world that car manufacturers cannot build boats. Many have tried and they have been largely terrible. Mercedes came up with something very pointy a few years ago but forgot to add basic boaty stuff like side decks or any outside seating, bar the helm and navigator’s seats.
At least it had those – BMW’s Designworks recently put something out that looked like it had been designed by someone who had never even seen a boat. Or water. It was a sort of big glass-sided floating lounge. Lexus made a pretty good fist of collaborating with American boatbuilder Marquis Yachts to create the LY650 flybridge.
To be fair, this was actually a pretty decent-looking craft, but I don’t imagine anyone at Sea Ray lost too much sleep over it, let alone at Princess or Sunseeker.
But of course there has to be an exception to prove the rule, and Ferrari provided it back in the 1980s. Collaborating with, and built by, Riva, the boat was simply called the Riva Ferrari 32. Hardly surprisingly, given its parentage, it was fantastically cool.
Carbon-fibre wing and two iconic badges guarantee entry to the most exclusive of marinas
Finished in bright red (a few were yellow), it came with a black carbon-fibre central wing suspended on two narrow forward sloping spars that looked like it had been pinched from one of its F1 cars. On the side were strakes like a Ferrari Testarossa and it was long, low and sleek, just like a real Ferrari.
On board the layout was pure muscle boat, a cuddy cabin that could sleep two (finished appropriately in gloss black with bright red upholstery), then outside there was a helm and navigator seat with a bench seat behind and a sunpad over the engine space behind that.
Naturally, it had the go to match the show. Two 390hp BPM Vulcano V8 petrol engines linked to race-style surface drives with Rolla propellers gave triple figure performance. Admittedly, the marketing team achieved such lofty heights by quoting kph (100kph, to be exact), a highly respectable 53 knots.
And yes, of course there are faster boats and roomier boats and bigger boats and more practical boats. But really, could there be anything cooler in the entire world than rocking up in Port Hercule, Monaco, in one of only 40 Riva Ferraris ever built? I think not.
Article continues below…
World’s Coolest Boats: Riva Tritone Special Cadillac – The boat world’s answer to a ferrari 250GT0
Riva El-Iseo: Is this the coolest electric boat money can buy?
Riva Ferrari 32 Specifications:
Year: 1989
LOA: 32ft 6in (9.92m)
Beam: 8ft 6in (2.65m)
Power: Twin 390hp BPM Vulcano V8 petrol engines
Speed: 55 knots
Price when new: $400,000
If you enjoyed this….
If you enjoyed this….Motor Boat & Yachting is the world’s leading magazine for Motoryacht enthusiasts. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams, as well as tests and news of all the latest motorboats.
Plus you’ll get our quarterly Custom Yachting supplement where we share the last on offer in the superyacht world and at the luxury end of the market.
Build your knowledge with a subscription delivered to your door. See our latest offers and save at least 30% off the cover price.
Note: We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site, at no extra cost to you. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.
