Ford V8-powered fiberglass replica of 250 GT California is one of three drivable cars built for the 1986 movie
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by Chris Chilton
2 hours ago
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by Chris Chilton
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Most people who buy a replica Ferrari do it because they can’t afford a real one, but whoever buys this make-believe Maranello classic could choose from many genuine Ferraris, including some desirable vintage models for the $350-450,000 it’s expected to fetch at auction next month.
But they definitely couldn’t afford a real 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder, and neither could Hollywood director John Hughes when he was making the cult movie classic Ferris’ Bueller’s Day Off, at least not for the action scenes which involve two parking valets taking the car for a spin and getting it fully airborne. Even back in 1985 when the movie was made Spyders were expensive, which led to the creation of the most famous and most valuable fake Ferraris ever produced.
Four were built for the movie by California-based Modena Design & Development: a bare-bones car with no engine that is hurled out of a garage window at the end of the film and three drivable cars. The window-smash car was rebuilt in the 1980s and sold for an insane $337,500 in December last year, while this running example was owned by a Los Angeles plastic surgeon for many years, apparently after he took it as payment for work from a Paramount employee.
Let’s hope that nose job or facelift was a good one because it could end up costing that employee almost half a million dollars in lost income when the car crosses the block at Bonhams Amelia Island Auction on March 2. But then who in the late 1980s could have imagined that a fiberglass Ferrari kit car with a weedy 165 hp (167 PS) 5.0-liter Ford V8 and automatic transmission could ever be worth more than a real Ferrari? The decision to outfit the car with an auto trans, by the way, was down to star Matthew Broderick being unable to drive a stick shift, though the build team cleverly disguised the auto shifter with an open gate on the console.
Bonhams’ listing doesn’t make it clear which of the four movie cars this example is, and a 2018 Hagerty interview with Modena Design’s Neil Glassmoyer doesn’t really help either. But the car does have paperwork from Paramount confirming it was “set up” for driving scenes. So is this the only fake Ferrari you could drive without shame? Or would you still rather have a real Ferrari for your $450k?
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