Twin-turbo conversions and outlandish bodykits are commonplace nowadays, with tuners like Liberty Walk both inspiring and upsetting purists in equal measure with their supercar reimaginations. But this isn’t a new thing. In fact, it’s more than a few decades old.
One name at the forefront of the original charge was German tuner Koenig Specials.
Koenig Specials was founded by Willy König, whose fortunes made in publishing allowed him to pursue his true passion – racing. Competing under the pseudonym ‘Robert Frank’, König won the German Hillclimb Championship in his Ferrari 250 GT SWB, before racing other iconic vehicles through the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, including a Ford GT40, BMW M1 Procar, Porsche 935 K3 and Porsche 962.
In the ’70s, after feeling a little disheartened by the performance of his Ferrari 365 BB, König turned his hand to mechanical and cosmetic modification of various sports cars. At first it was a side interest, but having developed a reputation for wild styling and a fastidious approach to mechanical tuning, he made it official. Koenig Specials launched in 1977.
A total of 929 Ferrari 512 BBs were ever produced, with only a handful of these receiving the aftermarket Koenig Specials treatment. So when this stunning example appeared locally at The Classic Motor Hub, I had to go in for a closer look.
The Koenig Specials 512 BB exterior upgrade leaves little untouched, with aerodynamic enhancements made to either aid cooling or reduce lift. This aspect of the car was designed by another recognisable name from the ’80s tuning world – Vittori Strosek.
The diminutive 512 BB wore relatively narrow 15-inch wheels from factory, but in the Koenig Specials version they grew to 9 inches wide up front and 11 inches at the rear, shod in bulbous 225/50 and 325/35 tyres respectively.
Those more familiar with Koenig Specials will notice this car is missing the trademark side strakes the brand became synonymous with, but it still retains other styling cues. NACA-style ducts along the sills feed air to the rear brakes, while vents in the lower front lip cool the front brakes. Huge side intakes feed the intercoolers, and dual air boxes breathe through the finned deck lid.
The 512 BB rolled off Ferrari’s production line with around 355hp from its 180-degree V12. Koenig Specials offered a few states of tune, ranging from 385 up to a frankly ludicrous near 700 horsepower, which this car has.
Thanks to a comprehensive rebuild and addition of twin turbos (originally finding use in aircraft, modified by Franz Albert), the Koenig Specials 512 BB could go 0-60mph in well under four seconds, and crack the 200mph (321km/h) barrier for those committed enough to try.
The turbos sit where the original Ferrari rear silencers once did, while spent gasses exit out of what barely passes as an exhaust, with wastegate dump pipes alongside.
One of the biggest changes was the removal of the engine’s factory carburettors to fit modern electronic fuel injection and ignition systems. In this particular car, the ignition was recently updated again to provide a more stable spark and to take full advantage of better quality fuel. This modification has likely increased the power and torque output even more.
The interior is left largely standard, save for the electronic Lifeline fire suppression controller and additional gauges to monitor oil temperature and boost pressures. Yes, plural – each turbocharger has its own gauge.
Not many cars have ashtrays in their sills, but this just shows how low you sit in the car. The iconic gated shifter takes pride of place in the narrow centre console, with driver and passenger in close proximity to one another.
Sitting in the driver’s seat, it’s not hard to imagine what it would be like to wind out the motor along a straight stretch of road. In true ’80s fashion, you’d have a degree of lag before the turbos delivered their full boost, and the audio system would have been largely a suggestion, being barely audible over the wastegate chatter and exhaust cackle on the overrun.
This car perfectly sums up the forward thinking mentality of tuners in that era – take an already accomplished model and turn it up to 11. There are many things this car is, but discreet is certainly not one of them. So much so that Ferrari issued a legal notice stating no Koenig Specials could be marketed or sold using their name.
Koenig Specials continued strongly into the ’90s, tuning all manner of performance cars, from Mercedes-Benzes to Jaguars. It still exists today, but is sadly now just a shadow of its former self.
So while modern tuning houses are doing some rather crazy things, remember none of this is new – fashion goes in one big cycle. Think of it as an evolution, rather than a revolution. I’m not sure what we’ll see come the next cycle, but the OGs are always hard to beat.
Thanks to George, Nigel and everyone else at The Classic Motor Hub for accommodating me. Click here to see and hear this Koenig Specials 512 BB rolling out of their showroom.
Chaydon Ford
Instagram: chaycore
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This is awesome! I'm not necessarily a big fan of the Koenig styling, but I remember my dad converting some of his Bburago's into Koenig versions in the '90s.
I noticed the rear tyres (pic 13) which have a similar design, but inverted profile. It seems the wrong tyre is mounted on one side, but the layout is the same.. how does this work?
Great car, photography and write-up.
I installed the same MSD-6 ignition in my '55 Chevy hot rod back in 1990. It was- and continues to be- a terrific system but looks kinda pedestrian in a Ferrari.
The MSD ignition box is a pretty common mod on these when the original Dinoplex CDI unit fails. I've personally seen several otherwise unmodified 512 BB and BBi retrofitted with MSD ignition.
Thanks for the insight, Ross.
This old drag racer is learning a lot about tuning time attack, and drifting. But it's reassuring to see that well-established performance improvements transcend different forms of competition.
Comparing tuning culture of the 90s and early 2000s compared to now is an absolutely apples to oranges comparison for one reason: social media. No one tunes anymore to actually perform in the mainstream. Tuning has become about generating likes.
Speed Hunters and other people are absolutely guilty of this and it has lead to the absolute dilution of this industry on the whole. Half of you guys have never built an engine. Most people have no idea that building a car once its finished requires testing on a track to hone everything.
This industry has gone to absolute dog crap and stuff like this is a great throw back to when people actually wanted to try and go fast / move the needle forward. This current generation of tuners is moving nothing forward. They are building wide body liberty walk garbage for as many likes and reposts as they can get.
I'm not taking a shot at you as a writer for featuring this, but rather what the collective whole of your peers has turned into. Paddy McGrath is a great example. Total tosser who threw a GTI on bags and then talked massive amounts of rubbish to experienced racers who criticized him.
We are told now to respect all builds, this is absolute nonsense. This car was built by an actual tuner. Smokey Nagata was an actual tuner. Smokey Yunick was a real tuner and a racer.
What we have now is a shell of what the industry used to be and it's pathetic. It's a bunch of bagged drifting bull*** now and pretenders. Nice feature. Back when men were men and they were actually interested in speed.
Wait till you find out that many of the "tuning houses" of yore, didn't build engines in house either. They farmed it out. They were also crudely cobbled together.
The problem I see, is you seeking to lump every form of modification into one pile. It was never like that. There were always different things for different audiences. The exact same holds true today. Now, it's easier overall to access, due to SM, and so what. The beauty of SM is you can cultivate it and edit it to give you, and for you to participate in, only what you want.
SH has, and remains different, in that it seeks to cover various aspects. Drift, roadrace, Goodwood, pure show stuff, and feed it here in one place. They don't cover everything...they never have, they never could, and they compete now in a very saturated space. And so what? If you don't find things that interest you here, go elsewhere, or generate the content for yourself.
So perhaps Martin, you've aged out. Nothing wrong with it. Drifting, for example, was never my thing. Wasn't my thing in the early 2000's, isn't my thing now. But other things are, and that is why I periodically come back here to look at the pictures. Some stuff I like, some I don't. Just like it was in the 90's for me.
Personally...this car looks far worse than the original. I don't care that is may be faster in a straight line. There, things of old aren't always better (to me). Sometimes they are, and sometimes they aren't. In that regard, nothing has changed, fundamentally, in the 70 or so years this hobby has been around
But there has always been both sides... cars built for looks and some for speed. The 60s had custom, 70s and 80s had lowriders, 90s had mini trucks. These are all cars built for looks reasons alone. And nowadays you have 1000 horsepower cars pretty commonly when that was once considered impossible. There are cars with registration and number plates in Australia running 7 second quarter miles. And events like Cootamundra which do 1 mile racing for even more ludicrous numbers. Perhaps the difference now is that people will take already fast cars and make them perform worse for aesthetic reasons.
Tuning culture today is more about O and I rather than mechanical tuning. To extract the maximum performance out of today's modern engines, you need more knowledge on computing than pure mechanical expertise.
To say Speedhunters is guilty of promoting what you call "ricer" culture is pretty ignorant. This site is very much covering EVERYTHING car culture, not just "PERFORMANCE, PERFORMANCE, PERFORMANCE". There are still many tuners/players out there that are still pushing their industry forward. If you want to blame something for the dilution of the culture, blame it on "influencers".
I definitely blame influencers. That's a valid point. Funny on the performance part...I thought that's what the Speed in Speed Hunters was implying. I guess speed isn't about performance. And we're not hunting for that either.
Maybe we need a change in name? Respect All Build Hunters. Open to Any Modifications Hunters? Mediocrity Hunters?
There we go. Mediocrity Hunters. Bag all the things. Full aero bro. Full aero. Hella slideways.
Lol, I think you need to get out more or off whatever social media you are using. The reason tuning company’s want to get “likes” is because it helps pay the bills. Tuning company’s from 20-30 years ago would have done the same thing. And for the record, modern drift vehicles (formula drift) have more tuning and innovation than almost any other form of motorsport.
I've been racing 3 decades and followed drifting since the 1990s. And no, tuning companies would not have done that because their goal was to enter and win races / push the bar farther. Now the goal is solely to obtain followings and likes which is how we get LW.
People used to have a word for builds like LW...we called them rice. Ricers used to be ostracized and now they are celebrated. Alex Choi is a perfect example of this.
I think you need to learn how to be a little more analytical with your brain. More tuning and innovation in drifting? How do you figure that out? Would love to hear this expose into your brilliance.
This car wasn’t built for racing so I guess it’s a perfect example. Yes, fd has some of the loosest rules as far as models and power plants which is why I’ve seen everything from turbo 4s to turbo v12s, v8s on nitrous, rotary’s etc. Playing car video games for 30 years isn’t the same as being involved in motor sports lol
That's cute Nate. You sound retarded.
The mark you are missing here is that this car was built to go FASTER THAN THE ORIGINAL. Liberty Walk cars are SLOWER THAN THE ORIGINALS around circuits and in Top Speed.
It's such a joke in 2024.
I see how you may think so about modern tuning culture.
I tend to agree on some points but you cant blame SH for it.
The good things: friendships, passion about cars, socializing irl while being careful to not cause trouble and flying under radar - for me those are great.
Speedhunters came to be when I entered Uni, and I spent my breaks between study sessions on SH dreaming about cars.
I never saw SH advocate any bad behavior and I love this site for teaching me and inspiring me about things I love in time of my life when I had to play a very long game with little rewards for my hard work.
But hey, everyone is entitled to their own experience of whatever they look at, even if the thing looked at is always ONE thing. It becomes many things, in many people's eyes, and it has more to do with them, than the thing looked at.
You can choose how you will feel and what you focus on.
But you cant make anyone feel like you feel, about things you feel the way you feel.
Or simply said, its what its my man, have a nice day.
Dafuq? Do you guys ever read/understand what you are putting down on paper?
"The Koenig Specials 512 BB exterior upgrade leaves little untouched, with aerodynamic enhancements made to either aid cooling or reduce lift. "
"So while modern tuning houses are doing some rather crazy things, remember none of this is new – fashion goes in one big cycle. Think of it as an evolution, rather than a revolution."
Tuner's of decades past were performance oriented, because they were gearheads. Any mods were functional first, cosmetic distant second. In most cases, if the mod looked nice it was by coincidence. If anything it's a devolution, rather than an evolution. Current tuner culture has more in common with hot/rat-rodding than the namesake as modern tuners mentioned here really just produce aftermarket body kits for cars that will never see a track. I hate to say tuners because tuning culture is alive and well in the time attack and to an extent drift scene (is where the river meets ocean, and the river is polluted). But anyway, no, go straight to jail, there is no cycle, do not pass go, do not collect $200.
@Will! I don't like the back half porción of the car. It is to short. I'll take to know, if you con boost up the engine hp in a Lamborghini Countach to 900 to 1900hp and 1900lb ft ofturque, just modifi the engine.
This company sure did unbelievable things to exotic cars in the 80s and 90s. If I remember correctly, there was a Mid Night Club owned Ferrari that was tuned by them.
What a truly fantastic car. Brilliant