It may be one of the most expensive fakes in automotive history – the fake Ferrari 250 GT.
Little more than a gorgeous prop, the fake Ferrari 250 GT used in the John Hughes film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off has sold at auction for $377,000. The news GT comes via Heritage Auctions, the auction house that completed the sale. Three cars, in fact, were made for the film, and this was the last one available for purchase.
You can’t actually drive this particular Ferrari, however, because it’s not a real car. According to Entertainment Weekly, it’s missing an engine and drivetrain, among other things. What it is: A movie prop built for the film that was built and then rebuilt to be used as a display piece after production.
And it’s quite a bargain when you consider that the real 250 GT California went for $17 million at auction in 2016 – and it, too, was driven in a movie. A year earlier, another similar model sold for a record $18.5. It’s no surprise that the Ferris Bueller “car” with the fiberglass shell was a much more sensible choice for the action-packed 1980s movie.
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Ferris Bueller’s Day Off follows a boy named Ferris Bueller – played by Matthew Broderick – as he decides to take what’s supposed to be a leisurely day off from high school.
Along the way, he convinces his friend Cameron Frye (played by Alan Ruck) to take out his dad’s Ferrari for the day. Cameron is at first reluctant because his dad is very strict with his parenting and the Ferrari is his most beloved possession.
Anyone who’s seen the classic teen flick knows just how this particular 250 GT California met its movie death.
A famous sequence within the film involves two valet drivers who take the Ferrari out for a joyride and rack up the miles in a very obvious way. The school skippers eventually deal with the issue by jacking up the car they run it backwards in order to get the mileage to go back down. It’s at that point Cameron decides it’s time to stand up to his domineering father for once in his life. He not only kicks the car but sends crashing through the garage’s full-length window to the forest below.
The recently purchased fake Ferrari 250 GT was the one used for that exact scene. In fact, it’s the very prop car that went through the window in the 1986 film. Who can forget the car that Ferris and his friends took for a joyride around Chicago on their infamous day off from school?
Memo to the new owner: Just don’t plan on bragging that you own a Ferrari.
The red-and-tan convertible is one of three prop cars built by Modena Design & Development specifically for the film. This one actually rebuilt after production for display. Among the details that give it away as a fake: A hood that doesn’t open and a missing trunk latch.
But the biggest difference between the prop and an actual 250 GT California is the powertrain. The replica car lacks a Columbo V-12.
A bit of Ferrari history: It All Started in a Little Factory in Maranello: Ferrari Celebrates 75 Years of Greatness.
Collier Automedia lists these fun facts about the “Ferrari” used in the movie, and the GT they were based upon.
- All three vehicles used in the movie were fakes. “Writer and director John Hughes had originally planned for the car to be a Mercedes until he came across a replica of the ’61 Ferrari GT in a magazine. The replica model was called the GT Spyder California, built by Neil Glassmoyer and Mark Goyette at Modena Design and Development. And the “Ferrari” that flew out the window to its death? It didn’t even run. Glassmoyer and Goyette built a fiberglass shell specifically for the purpose of being destroyed for that scene.”
- All three vehicles used in the movie were fakes. “Writer and director John Hughes had originally planned for the car to be a Mercedes until he came across a replica of the ’61 Ferrari GT in a magazine. The replica model was called the GT Spyder California, built by Neil Glassmoyer and Mark Goyette at Modena Design and Development. And the “Ferrari” that flew out the window to its death? It didn’t even run. Glassmoyer and Goyette built a fiberglass shell specifically for the purpose of being destroyed for that scene.”
- Even though it wasn’t a real Ferrari that sold at auction, the specs of the replica are still amazing even by car-lover’s standards. “The GT Spyder featured a 1974 302 c.i.d. Ford V-8, C-4 automatic transmission. It’s rumored that Glassmoyer and Goyette built the car with an automatic transmission because Matthew Broderick didn’t know how to drive a standard. The front-engine, rear-wheel drive sports car was designed by Bob Webb and built with a fiberglass convertible shell on a custom tube-frame by David Turley. You may recognize Bob Webb’s name — he worked on the Zerex Special driven by Roger Penske and Bruce McLaren. The drivable replica was designed to function as a high-performing sports car, and the designers sourced parts from several different cars to create the strongest possible resemblance to an actual Ferrari. It featured torsion bar suspension in both the front and rear, adapted to Ford Mustang A-arms at the front, and a Ford Mustang solid rear axle. The windshield was sourced from a Fiat Spider 124 and the taillights came from a VW Type 3. The movie has several closeups of the speedometer, which was sourced from a Jaguar E-Type.”
Also, did you know that a real Ferrari 250 GT California is extremely rare?
According to Collier Automedia, there’s a reason the studio used replicas. “There were only 56 total models of the 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California ever made. Destroying what amounts to a priceless piece of automotive history would not only have cost millions of dollars, but it likely would have angered everyone at Ferrari in addition to car enthusiasts the world over.”
And did you know that Ferrari sued Modena Design & Development?
That’s because Modena Design had the gall to put Ferrari badges on their replicas. And they did that without securing the rights to do that from Ferrari.
Want the real thing and something that looks just like the fake Ferrari 250 GT? Visit our Ferrari dealership below for the latest inventory.
