The history of the automobile is far from singular. It is, in fact, made up of countless stories that bind enthusiasts and exceptional vehicles together. To celebrate these extraordinary tales, Rétromobile presents "One Vehicle, One Story", a video series giving the floor to passionate collectors of all kinds. In this episode: a Ferrari 550 Maranello exhibited on the stand of Youngtimers magazine at Rétromobile 2026, whose owner Jérôme Malamud shares a deeply personal family story.
Published on Jul 29,2026 at 1:15 PM | Updated on Jul 30,2026 at 1:16 PM
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Ferrari 550 Maranello: the GT celebrating its 30th anniversary

Some cars are bought. Others choose you. Jérôme Malamud's Ferrari 550 Maranello firmly belongs to the second category. Red, long, sitting on its four wheels with the quiet authority that defines Maranello's great grand tourers, it held court at Rétromobile 2026 on the stand of Youngtimers magazine, at the heart of a retrospective dedicated to cars born thirty years ago. An anniversary that carries real weight: the 550 Maranello, unveiled in 1996, marked Ferrari's thunderous return to rear-wheel drive after years of mid-engined architecture. A purist's choice, immediately praised by critics and collectors alike. Thirty years on, it has become one of the most sought-after Ferrari youngtimers on the collector market.

But for Jérôme Malamud, figures and performance are not the heart of the matter. What he came to share at Rétromobile is something else entirely. It is the story of a father, a son, and a car that weathered the joys and trials of a life lived together.

Ferrari 550 Maranello: a convinced Porsche man's retirement gift

 

The story begins, as it so often does, with an old passion. Jérôme's father was a devoted Porsche man, loyal to Stuttgart for many years. But deep down, he carried an intact, vivid, almost haunting memory: driving a Ferrari 400 Super America at the end of the 1960s. The V12, the smoothness, the sound. "He always talked about it, it was an emotional memory," recounts Jérôme Malamud. For decades, that Italian interlude remained suspended, like a promise never fulfilled.

Then retirement arrived. And with it, the perfect opportunity. "One day I said to him: listen, Dad, come on, let's go, today's the day." They headed to dealer Charles Pozzi, the Parisian temple of the prancing horse. The 550 Maranello was there, red, waiting for them.Jérôme is the first to admit he gave his father "a little push". But it was the car itself that settled the matter: immediate chemistry, a shared certainty. The father treated himself to his retirement gift. The son found himself a partner in crime.

 

Ferrari 550 Maranello: the roads of Le Perche and the gendarmerie

 

From that moment on, the 550 Maranello became the thread running through an already solid father-son relationship, one the car would only strengthen further. Regular outings, country drives, track weekends: "Before, he had his cars, I had mine. With this one, a special bond was formed."

Jérôme Malamud illustrates that bond with an anecdote that says everything about the complicity between the two men. On a small road in Le Perche, a car sat inches from their rear bumper for kilometre after kilometre. "After a few kilometres, it was genuinely unbearable. So I accelerated a little." The problem, of course, is that a Ferrari 550 Maranello and the notion of "accelerating a little" are two concepts that are difficult to reconcile. The gendarmerie, positioned a kilometre further down the road, pulled both vehicles over. Jérôme explained the situation. The officer looked at them, understood, and waved them on without a word. Then turned to the driver of the blue car behind: "So, Madam, you want to race? That's going to cost you." Father and son drove away in silence, sharing the same helpless laughter.

 

Ferrari 550 Maranello: passing the baton

 

The years went by. The 550 Maranello kept rolling, accumulating kilometres with the serenity of a well-maintained and regularly used car: 65,000 kilometres on the clock in 2012, 118,000 today. But life, at times, sets its own pace. Jérôme's father gradually found it harder to drive the car. It was Jérôme who took over at the wheel, who looked after her, who watched over her. "It was always the way, for him, to still feel alive," he confides, his voice steady but his words weighted. The Ferrari was no longer simply a car. It was a physical thread connecting him to what life still had to offer.

Jérôme's father passed away three years ago. When it came to settling the estate, the question of the 550 Maranello barely arose between Jérôme and his sister. "She's a member of the family," he says simply. "So we keep her." Three words. The most obvious logic in the world.

 

Ferrari 550 Maranello: a youngtimer that must be driven

 

As her full owner since then, Jérôme Malamud has a clear philosophy about how to live with a car like this: she must be driven. Regularly, at least once a month. The period when the family hadn't used her enough left its mark: the fuel pumps suffered, the seals hardened. "A car, whether it's old or not, but especially classic cars, you have to drive them. Even just a little, but regularly," confirms François Allain.

In everyday use, the 550 Maranello proves more approachable than one might fear. Once warm, the clutch and gearbox become relatively manageable. It is a true GT, comfortable, fitted with a proper boot, built to cover ground with elegance rather than to punish tyres on track. Its 4.60 metres of length and two metres of width simply demand a degree of awareness in tighter situations. "She's kind, she's smooth, she's forgiving," says Jérôme, with the affection of someone who knows his machine inside out.

The list of outings speaks for itself: Bagatelle, gatherings of five or ten cars, Rétromobile 2026. And in 2025, one particularly special moment: the Hunaudières. The full Le Mans circuit, opened just once or twice a year due to the national roads it uses, welcomed the 550 Maranello during a parade that ended at 230 km/h alongside a GT40. "I'm driving the Hunaudières in my own car," he says. Some moments simply have no price.

 

Ferrari 550 Maranello: a family story built to last

 

Jérôme Malamud has three children. They are just beginning to get their driving licences. Their interest in cars is growing gradually, gently, the way it once came to him. "You always have to nurture it a little. I'm trying," he says, with the patient smile of someone who knows that passion cannot be forced, only transmitted. His wish is simple, and quietly breathtaking: that the baton be passed a second time. That the 550 Maranello, bought by a retiring father to reconnect with a memory thirty years old, continues to travel through the generations. "When you see at auctions or at shows like Rétromobile cars that have stayed in the same family for 60, 80 years, there's something truly remarkable about it," he observes. That is exactly the logic he carries forward. One car, one story, one family. And perhaps, a few decades from now, an even longer story yet to be told.

 

Discover the Ferrari 550 Maranello and many more exceptional vehicles in Rétromobile's "One Vehicle, One Story" podcast. To never miss an episode, visit the Rétromobile website and find us on all streaming platforms.