The
Ferrari 250 GTO is a
GT car which was produced by
Ferrari from 1962 to 1964 for homologation into the
FIA's
Group 3 Grand Touring Car category.
The numerical part of its name denotes the
displacement in
cubic centimeters of each cylinder of the
engine, whilst GTO stands for "Gran Turismo Omologata",
[1] Italian for "Grand Touring
Homologated."
When new, the GTO commanded an $18,000 purchase price in the United States, and buyers had to be personally approved by
Enzo Ferrari and his dealer for North America,
Luigi Chinetti.
36 cars were made in the years '62/'63. In 1964 'Series II' was introduced, which had a slightly different look. Three such cars were made, and four older 'Series I' were given a 'Series II' body. It brought the total of GTOs produced to 39.
In 2004,
Sports Car International placed the 250 GTO eighth on a list of
Top Sports Cars of the 1960s, and nominated it the top sports car of all time. Similarly,
Motor Trend Classic placed the 250 GTO first on a list of the "Greatest Ferraris of all time".
The 250 GTO was designed to compete in
GT racing. It was based on the
250 GT SWB. Chief engineer
Giotto Bizzarrini installed the 3.0
L V12 engine from the
250 Testa Rossa into the chassis from the 250 GT SWB and worked with designer
Sergio Scaglietti to develop the body. After Bizzarrini and most other Ferrari engineers were fired in a dispute with Enzo Ferrari, development was handed over to new engineer
Mauro Forghieri, who worked with Scaglietti to continue development of the body, including
wind tunnel and track testing. Unlike most Ferraris, it was not designed by a specific individual or design house.
The rest of the car was typical of early-1960s Ferrari technology: hand-welded tube frame, A-arm front suspension, live-axle rear end,
disc brakes, and Borrani wire wheels. The
Porsche designed five-speed gearbox was new to Ferrari GT racing cars; the metal gate that defined the shift pattern would become a tradition that is still maintained in current models. The interior was extremely basic, to the point where a speedometer was not installed in the instrument panel. Many of its switches came from the
Fiat 500.
[citation needed] Racing
FIA regulations as they applied in 1962 required at least one hundred examples of a car to be built in order for it to be homologated for Group 3 Grand Touring Car racing.
[2] However, Ferrari built only 39 250 GTOs (33 of the "normal" cars, three with the four-litre
330 engine sometimes called the "330 GTO" - recognizable by the large hump on the hood - and three "Type 64" cars, with revised bodywork). Ferrari eluded FIA regulations by numbering its chassis out of sequence, using jumps between each to suggest cars that didn't exist.
[3]The car debuted at the
12 Hours of Sebring in 1962, driven by American
Phil Hill (the Formula One World Driving Champion at the time) and Belgian
Olivier Gendebien. Although originally annoyed that they were driving a GT-class car instead of one of the full-race Testa Rossas competing in the prototype class, the experienced pair impressed themselves (and everyone else) by finishing 2nd overall behind the
Testa Rossa of
Bonnier and
Scarfiotti.
Ferrari would go on to win the over 2000cc class of the FIA's
International Championship for GT Manufacturers in 1962, 1963 and 1964,
[4] the 250 GTO being raced in each of those years.
The 250 GTO was one of the last front-engined cars to remain competitive at the top level of sports car racing. Before the advent of vintage racing the 250 GTO, like other racing cars of the period, passed into obsolescence. Some were used in regional races, while others were used as road cars.
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| Ferrari 250 GT California |
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Collectibility
From the late 1970s to the late 1980s,
classic car values rose rapidly and the 250 GTO, touted as the
Ferrari that most successfully embodies the salient traits of the marque, became the most valuable of all Ferraris.
According to an anonymously authored article in
Times Online, a 250 GTO seized by the FBI from a convicted drug dealer was sold in a sealed auction in 1988 for approximately $2 million.
[5] In 1989, at the peak of the boom, a 250 GTO was sold to a Japanese buyer for $14.6 million plus commission.
[6] By 1994 that example changed hands for about $3.5 million.
[6] In 2008, a British buyer
[7] bought a 250 GTO that formerly belonged to
Lee Kun-hee of
Samsung Electronics[8] at an auction for a record £15.7 million.
[9] In May 2010,
BBC Radio 2 DJ
Chris Evans bought chassis number 4675 GT for £12 million.
[10]Scarcity and high monetary values led to the creation of several replica 250 GTOs on more common Ferrari chassis. Misrepresentations of the original cars, offered for sale at full market value, have been reported.
However the values of legitimate high-demand Ferrari models have continued to rise through the present decade.
