Ferrari 250 GTO

The 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO is famous for quite a few reasons. It was the last front engine racecar Ferrari ever made and, due to its unique design, it is one of the most recognized cars in the world. It was also the last race car Ferrari built that you could actually drive on the road but it was truly designed for racing and won the World Championship three years in a row, 1962, 1963 and 1964. A 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO also holds the record for the most expensive car ever sold.By the way, GTO stands for "Gran Turismo Omologato." Omologato is the Italian word for "Homologation" which means that the car was classified by the FIA for GT competition.

The car shown here was made from a kit that was originally designed by Eagle Manufacturing and sold by Joe Alphabet as an Alpha 1 GTO. I originally purchased this kit from Joe at his Alpha 1 Engineering shop in Huntington Beach, CA. The body installs on a Datsun 240Z to 280Z so a rust free 1971 240Z was selected as the donor. The '71 was preferred because it was prior to the bumper laws and would not have to be lowered.

After two incredibly successful seasons the GTO was up for replacement and Ferrari felt a 'few minor' modifications were not going to be sufficient this time round. Cooper's huge success in Formula 1 in the late 1950s had shown the racing world that a mid mounted engine was superior over the traditional front engine layout. For the first few years of the 1960s Ferrari had reserved this layout for their single seater and prototype racers. In the 1963 24 Hours of Le Mans Ferrari scored the first major mid-engined sportscar success with the 250 P. In good Ferrari tradition, the 250 P still shared many components with its predecessors, despite the novel chassis design. The most familiar part was the well proven Colombo short-block V12 engine, which it shared with GT cars like the 250 GTO. For Enzo Ferrari the engine was the most important part of any car, and hoping he could convince the FIA of the same thing Ferrari set out to develop a civilized version of the 250 P for GT racing. Launched at the 1963 Paris Motorshow this '250 LM' looked strikingly similar to the 250 P, but still Ferrari insisted it was not very different from the front-engined 250 GT.

The entire car was rewired using an 18-circuit “Painless Wiring” kit and all the marker lights are real Ferrari units. A Ferrari GTO type dashboard was installed with custom Stewart Warner 5” speedometer and tachometer. Except for the dash and the Nardi wheel, the rest of the interior is all stock but almost every piece is brand new. Of course, the custom mats have the Ferrari shield on them and the horn button, as well as the gearshift knob, are genuine Ferrari parts. The custom made Dayton real knock-off 72 spoke stainless steel wire wheels are 15x8” with the rear having quite an offset. The “knock-off” spinners have had the Ferrari horse engraved into them. Dunlop P205R70's were installed up front and P225R70's on the rear. The rest of the suspension is stock except for the usual “trick” pieces, polyurethane bushings, Eibach springs and Tokico struts. Stopping power is provided by using Toyota 4 piston brake calipers on the front with a later model Z 15/16” master cylinder.