Ask any car aficionado what 1960s classic is his favorite and most will tell you the following three things: Jaguar E-Type, Ford Mustang and Ferrari 250 GTO. Compared to the gorgeous British cat and charismatic American V8 bruiser, the 250 Gran Turismo Omologato was an extremely rarefied breed.
From 1962 to 1964, this masterpiece on wheels was made in 39 units. Like many Italian exotica of the time, the 250 GTO was hand-built from head to toe, with the all-aluminum bodywork produced by Scaglietti, a coachbuilder that was located across the road from the Ferrari headquarters in Maranello.
The 250 GTO we’ll be talking about today is chassis #3445 GT, the car of billionaire Christopher Cox, a gentleman from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Back in 2012, Chris crashed this rare beauty with a Hyundai at the 50th Anniversary GTO tour. There wasn’t a lot of damage to the 52-year-old Fezza, but the front was in such a bad shape it hurt even to look at it.
Fortunately for Chris and enthusiasts, the $38 million Prancing Horse was rebuilt for the better part of two years by Ferrari’s historic division and looks dashing in its yellow & Blu Tour de France livery.
It’s anybody’s guess how much Ferrari Classiche were paid to restore this car...
...but we’re pretty certain it’s at least a 6-digit number.Chris was so happy to see his cherished V12 Fezza back, he wanted to give the beans to its 300 Italian stallions on the automaker’s own test circuit. There’s something really magical about seeing and hearing the throaty howl of a 250 GTO at Fiorano.
The car predates the circuit by 10 years, but still, try to imagine a bit of graining to the footage and F1 commentator Murray Walker talking in the background about how the 250 GTO is pushed in the corners.
It’s an epic video and we should be grateful vehicles like this still exist in an age of electronic nannies.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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