Benny Caiola

Caiola was born in San Fratello, Messina, Italy. He emigrated to the United States in 1947. He began working as a construction laborer. Soon after he was apprenticed to a plasterer. By the early 1950s he had his own crew of plasterers and he eventually began general contracting for New York City based real estate developers. He built over 100 mid rise buildings between 1968 and 2001. The first residential apartment building he built as both General Contractor and Developer was 203 East 74th street in 1974. He went to develop over 50 properties that he owned and managed. His sons joined him in the mid to late 1980s and they eventually amassed a portfolio of 1500 units.

Benny Caiola's Ferrari FXX red with white accents, American flag on the roof (number 20)

Benny Caiola owned an automotive collection which, according to Forbes Magazine, was viewed as one of the most exclusive Ferrari collections around the world.[1] 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, after his initials making it the Huayra BC. This exact edition was limited to output figures of 20 cars and was presented to the public at the Geneva Motor Show in 2016, almost six years after Caiola's death. At the end of July 2019 Pagani releases the new Pagani Huayra BC Roadster.[2]

A selection of the cars included in his collection is given below:

• 1973 Ferrari Dino
• 1990 Ferrari F40
• 1995 Ferrari F50
• 1999 Ferrari 333 SP
• 2002 Ferrari Enzo
• 2005 Maserati MC 12
• 2006 Ferrari FXX Evoluzione (number 20)
• 2007 Aston Martin DBS
• 2007 Ferrari F430 Challenge
• 2008 Ferrari F430 Scuderia
• 2008 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren
• 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.[3]

Benny Caiola died in New York City on 22 April 2010, aged 79.[4]