1963 Ferrari 250 GTE Gets Chevy V8 Engine, Becomes a Sacrilege Hot Rod

Back in the 60s, the Prancing Horse introduced the iconic Ferrari 250 to the world. Few vehicles have occupied so many pages of the history book, from the achievements of the standard model to the Breadvan story that continues to fascinate one generation of car enthusiasts after another.

One of the ramifications of the 250 story is the GTE. You can look at this as a very distant ancestor of the Ferrari FF, since the GTE added an extra pair of seats for some extra Grand Tourer flavor.

Maranello made 1,000 of these 2+2s, but not all of them survived. For instance, the body of the example seen here had been eaten away by time when its current owner came across it.

Since the guy had a 250 GTE carcass on his hands, he decided to follow Enzo’s “Aerodynamics are for those who can’t build engines” principle. So he completely messed with the shape of the car, adorning its front end with a 302 cubic inch V8. And in order not to leave the JDM car culture aside, he skipped Rosso Corsa, finishing the car in a shade of Mitsubishi Red instead.

We’re talking about the Chevy 302, you know, the heart of the late 1960s Camaro Z/28. As for the rest of the technical setup, the vee eight is mated to a Viper six-speed manual, for maximum pleasure behind that classy Prancing Horse steering wheel. Further down the power line, we find a good old Ford nine-inch rear end.

Does it all feel organic? Can one enjoy such a machine? Check out the video below to get your answers.