Benny Caiola (1930 – 22 April 2010) was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

entrepreneur most widely known for owning a large

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...

and other exotic cars collection.

Early life and career

Car collection

Benny Caiola owned an automotive collection which, according to

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, was viewed as one of the most exclusive Ferrari collections around the world. He was also the first client to ever order a car from Pagani, which gave the company reason to name a special edition of their second production car, the

Pagani Huayra The Pagani Huayra () is a mid-engine sports car produced by Italian sports car manufacturer Pagani, succeeding the company's previous offering, the Zonda. It is named after Wind, like the previous model (Zonda), the word Huayra came from a Quec ...

, after his initials, making it the Huayra B

This Huayra BC was supposed to be limited to 20 cars, though 30 were actually made. The car debuted at the

Geneva Motor Show The Geneva International Motor Show is an annual auto show held in March in the Swiss city of Geneva. The show is hosted at the Palexpo, a convention centre located next to the Geneva Cointrin International Airport. The Salon is organised by th ...

in 2016, almost six years after Caiola's death. At the end of July 2019 Pagani released the new Pagani Huayra Roadster BC, an open-top version of the Huayra BC. A selection of the cars included in his collection is given below: * 1973 Dino 246 GT * 1990

Ferrari F40 The Ferrari F40 (''tipo'' F120) is a mid-engine, rear-wheel drive sports car engineered by Nicola Materazzi with styling by Pininfarina. It was built from 1987 until 1992, with the LM and GTE race car versions continuing production until 1994 ...

* 1995

Ferrari F50 The Ferrari F50 (Type F130) is a mid-engine sports car manufactured by Italian automobile manufacturer Ferrari from 1995 until 1997. Introduced in 1995, the car is a two-door, two seat targa top. The car is powered by a 4.7 L naturally asp ...

* 1999

Ferrari 333 SP The Ferrari 333 SP is a sports prototype race car that was built by Italian race car manufacturer Dallara and later Michelotto to compete in the World Sports Car championship for Ferrari. Unveiled at the end of 1993, at the behest of amateur rac ...

* 2002

Enzo Ferrari Enzo Anselmo Giuseppe Maria Ferrari (; 20 February 1898 – 14 August 1988) was an Italians, Italian motor racing driver and entrepreneur, the founder of the Scuderia Ferrari Grand Prix motor racing team, and subsequently of the Ferrari ...

* 2005

Maserati MC12 The Maserati MC12 (''Tipo M144S'') is a limited production two-seater sports car produced by Italian car maker Maserati to allow a racing variant to compete in the FIA GT Championship. The car entered production in 2004, with 25 cars produced. ...

* 2006 Ferrari FXX Evoluzione (number 20) * 2007

Aston Martin DBS The Aston Martin DBS is a grand tourer produced by the British manufacturer Aston Martin Lagonda Limited from 1967 to 1972. From 2007 to 2012 the DBS name was resurrected for a new model, the Aston Martin DBS V12. DBS (1967–1972) The DBS w ...

* 2007

Ferrari F430 Challenge The Ferrari F430 Challenge is a production-based race car built by Ferrari. The car is directly based on the standard F430 and uses the same 4.3L V8 engine. It was introduced at the 2005 Frankfurt Motor Show to succeed the Ferrari 360 Challen ...

* 2008

Ferrari 430 Scuderia The Ferrari F430 (Type F131) is a sports car produced by the Italian automobile manufacturer Ferrari from 2004 until 2009 as a successor to the Ferrari 360. The car is an update to the 360 with exterior and performance changes. It was unveiled a ...

* 2008

Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren The Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren (C199 / R199 / Z199) is a grand tourer jointly developed by German automotive manufacturer Mercedes-Benz and British automobile manufacturer McLaren Automotive and sold from 2003 to 2009. When the car was develope ...

* 2009 Lamborghini Gallardo LP 560-4 * 2010 Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano HGTE The collection was put on sale on December 28, 2010 at

Gooding & Company Gooding & Company is a classic car auction company headquartered in Santa Monica, California. Incorporated in 2003, the company holds three of the top ten all-time records for most expensive cars sold in auction. The company also provides private ...

Relationship with Pagani

Benny Caiola was a friend of Horacio Pagani, the founder of Pagani Automobili and the first customer of a

Pagani Zonda The Pagani Zonda is a mid-engine sports car produced by the Italian sports car manufacturer Pagani. It debuted at the 1999 Geneva Motor Show. By 2019, a total of 140 cars had been built, including development mules. Both 2-door coupé and roa ...

, the company's first automobile. After his death a version of the

(the successor of the Zonda), named "Huayra BC" (Benny Caiola) which is a track focused variant of the original model was unveiled at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show in his honour. Later, in July 2019, an open-top variant of the BC called the Huayra Roadster BC was unveiled.

Death

Benny Caiola died in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on 22 April 2010, aged 79.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Caiola, Benny 1930 births 2010 deaths People from San Fratello Car collectors Businesspeople from Sicily