On Ferrari Friday’s, William Ross from the Exotic Car Marketplace will be discussing all things Ferrari and interviewing people that live and breath the Ferrari brand. Topics range from road cars to racing; drivers to owners, as well as auctions, private sales and trends in the collector market.
In this episode William talks about the glorious history of the Ferrari 250 GTO.
Episode 2
Well, hello everyone. Welcome to the second episode of the Ferrari Marketplace. Today, we’re going to talk about the Ferrari 250 GTO, you know, the, um, the unicorn, the, uh, quintessential Ferrari, so to speak out there in Ferrari world and the Ferrari marketplace, the one to own less, as long as you’re a billionaire, but real quick, you know, sorry, it’s taking a little bit to get the second episode up and going.
Um, I kind of reviewed that first one and I knew that first one was going to be a little rough because it was the first one I did. So I kind of was tightening some [00:01:00] things up and put some more things together to try and make this a little more fluid And sound a little bit better. So hopefully this one goes a little bit better.
So but anyways, I’m wearing an upper Let’s talk about the 250 GTO so 60 years ago in 1962 the Ferrari 250 GTO was Unleashed on the world. Now, but the how this car came about was in prior to the, uh, you know, 61 suit, you know, season prior net the FIA for the world championship. No, you could raise, you know, have actually, you know, built specifically sports racing prototype car to run for the world championship.
Well, for 1962, the FIA decided. So you know what? We’re going to make these a actually a homologated road going home. Grand touring car GT car. Now, those will be the ones that will only be viable for points in a championship So, you know Enzo saw say we need to come up with some new cars here. That’s [00:02:00] going to be for this So at the time the wheel in my head was a 250 SWB was what they kind of had that would fit the bill Well, that wasn’t gonna work.
So they needed to change it up. So his man. Mr. Bizzarini And I apologize if I hack up some of these names, I’m not Italian. So anyways, he got to work on his little skunk work, skunk works operation there in fried, fried Ferrari and started putting stuff together. Now, no rumor has it, you know, okay. That, you know, there was really no one specific person that was responsible for the body shape and designing.
The 250 GTO now there were never any drawings done. Nothing put the paper. No schemat. Nothing They just kind of they put this thing together just with using their hands metal and just say let’s just do this tweak this and Whatnot, but throughout the years it’s kind of been I would say rumor has it or coming out of [00:03:00] that possibly that actually Enzo’s Uh, wind tunnel, uh, model maker guy, Edmondo Milimeter Casoli was actually kind of one of the major contributors to the shape and design of the car.
Now, like I said, he’s never really gotten direct credit, but in reading stuff like that and you talk to people and back then you read enough stuff, it seems like, it seems to be that he was. Like the biggest contributor to the shape and design of this car. Cause as you know, that shape is nice. It’s beautiful and aerodynamic and going.
So, Hey, someone that builds models for the wind tunnel, I guess it would be the man kind of, uh, would do it. So, but anyways, you know, um, you know, bizzarene his team and he started out, but as we all know, in 1961, the big old palace revolt happened and. Long biz arena along with, uh, other, some other top, uh, line engineers and conciliarities, I guess you could say, were sent packing.
Um, they were not happy about [00:04:00] Enzo’s wife coming out on the shop floor and kind of telling them what to do and all this stuff. And they were basically like, look, either she goes or we go and well, I guess we know who won. Enzo’s wife won. So those guys all left. So, it was basically kind of turned over to a 26 year old Mario Fogheri.
And he had to pick up the pieces and kind of get moving on this and do it. So him and the other guys that got brought in that team that were still there and some new people that brought in, you know, end up, you know, putting this thing all back together and, you know, getting it completed. Um, what’s kind of surprising is, you know, usually, uh, Pininfarina was the one that was going to be designed, especially the road cars, but, uh, they really had no influence or anything on this.
Um, it was all done in house, and like I said, it was just, you know, hammered and welded together without a single drawing or scale model. Nothing was ever drawn on paper or something, so it was, it was pretty impressive. Um, so, uh, you know, as we know, designer and coach builder, you know, Sergio Scaglietti, you know, he, he inherited and got the final shape and tweaked and everything like that and going, so.[00:05:00]
That’s who kind of got, got this thing, you know, to the finish line and regarding to get this thing all taken up. Um, kind of an interesting story regarding how the 250 GTO name came about. Cause as we know, that it was actually, Derived from the 250 SWB and, you know, and that was one thing there were 100 cars were supposed needed to be made to appease the FIA and doing it.
And as we know, Enzo and his in his way was able to. I guess sway or, you know, get the FIA to agree. The fact is, well, this is just the 250 SWB with tweaks and, you know, changes and whatnot, you know, other competitors, other manufacturers all kind of livid about it, but Hey, that’s the kind of power and sway he had.
So they, um, were able to do it. But what happened was is when they were getting ready to, uh, when they did the registration for the first race, It [00:06:00] actually got sent over, you know, it was official. It was a 250 GT competition, 62 Berlinetta, you know, or, you know, it became known as a Alamogado, but when it got registered, uh, for that first race over the United States, It was actually put down to paper and now it’s kind of unknown.
There’s a couple different things for this, you know, um, either due to a kind of a language barrier because telephones back then and doing what not for and paperwork and not be able to understand the handwriting and what not. It was, it was supposed to be entered as, you know, 250GT 0, but somehow. So either, either there’s two stories.
One is just through subsequent, you know, um, language barriers. It just, they put GTO or the other story is a secretary type as whoever was, you know, handling all the entries and whatnot, just dropped a hyphen and just made a GTO. So there you go. Cause so it was never actually. Designated from [00:07:00] Ferrari as 250 GTO.
It actually became that through a clerical error or through a language barrier issue. So I always thought that was kind of funny and interesting about that, how it came about. And that’s, you know, just a few other stories about that, how those cars came about and got their name. I mean, look at the Daytona.
That car was never officially called the Daytona. from Ferrari. It was just because of the winning the race deal, the 24 hours of Daytona and it just kind of stuck. So anyways, but so it’s got a couple of those instances in there. So anyways, now with that season, so what they did is you know, to get things moving.
Um, there’s on record, I, you know, and there’s another argument that kind of gets Kind of tossed around and is there were some say 36 some say 39 you know it all depends how you look at it because The last three they kind of all of a sudden considered a 330 GTO because it’s got the four liter engine And it’s got the series two bodywork.
So another say okay, and then there’s the 36 [00:08:00] that are actually true GTOs because they have The original three liter engine and three liter V12 and the original bodywork. Um, so, you know, it kind of, it’s up in the air, you know, because like I said, you know, they did the, they had the series one bodywork and then they did the subsequent series two bodywork ones.
And, you know, As you can tell when you look at it, you can clearly tell between the Series 1 and Series 2. The Series 2 bodywork is a lot more aerodynamic. It’s a lot, you know, it looks more squatty. A little longer and a little wider. You know, you can definitely tell the difference between the two. So that’s why that argument is made that some people say, well, It’s not really a 250 GTO because it has a bigger engine a totally different body whatnot But I say no it is because it’s basically just a continuation of it So it’s you know, however, you want to look at it in my opinion a they’re all GTOs, you know And they’re all just absolutely gorgeous.
So that’s my opinion, you know, I said you’re gonna get that argument amongst other [00:09:00] people So, you know because like I said, some people say 36 some say 39 I say 39, but hey, that’s me So anyways, so right out of the gate, you know, these things were super competitive. You know, these things were doing phenomenal.
Um, you know, solid car, very reliable. You know, it was very easy to drive. You know, it was You know, a great car to compete in. Cause you got to remember in back then for the world championship races, you know, you weren’t just driving, you know, doing a 250 mile race on our road course or whatnot, you know, back then for the championship, you had, you know, endurance races, you know, you had 24 hour races, you had three hour races, you know, all these endurance races, you had hill climbs, um, you had these routes, you know, you had.
The 10 day Tour de France race, that’s your 10 days over as a whole race, you know, doing all these little things, you know, that, that, you know, if you look up the history of that race, it consisted of all these different, uh, recce’s and whatnot, you know, that he had to do for the race, you know, to win the whole thing.
So, you know, it’s, it’s [00:10:00] interesting, you know, how the championship was, you know, I guess one, because you had to be disciplined in a lot of different facets of racing a car, not just, Hey, going around a track for, you know, two, three hours and doing it. So I always had great respect for those guys back then.
That’s because the fact is, that’s what it is. I mean, you had to be, I want to say dominant, but you had to be pretty, pretty good in all types of all different disciplines of racing. So, you know, and, you know, that first year, I think it was, you know, they won. Uh, pretty much a majority of the races. So they won the championship and they went again.
They, they actually won it in 62, 63 and 64. So there were three years going. So, but the problem is by that time, you know, in 64, the writing was coming on the wall because that’s when old Carol Shelby came storming in with his Cobras. And, you know, hell bent on wanting to beat Ferrari because he just despised Enzo, um, and doing it.
So actually after the 1964 [00:11:00] season, now going to 65, yeah, they were all, you know, uh, still raced. The GTOs are still raced, but all under privateer teams, you know, Ferrari didn’t have any more factory efforts regarding that back in the 250 GTO on the factory level after the 64 season and just left all the privateers and subsequently, you know, Carroll Shelby ended up winning and decimate, you know.
Blowing doors off, uh, with his Daytona Coupes, um, in the 65 season. And, you know, those were phenomenal cars too. And that’s a totally different podcast. So anyways, you know, These cars, you know, as people say, you know, they’re not, you know, they’re beautiful and whatnot. They’re not perfect. They’re pretty straightforward.
I mean, if you ever look at them, they have no even, don’t even have any side mirrors on them. You know, and, and, you know, like I was saying, you know, as Enzo saw it was, well, who cares behind you? I’m always going forward and I’m in first place. Who cares behind me? So anyways, none of those GTOs have any side mirrors, which I always find was kind of interesting.
You know, um, so in getting to it, but, you know, so as a subsequent, you know, into the [00:12:00] later sixties. The GTO, I mean, it was just, it was becoming a old tired racing car. So, I mean, obviously, you know, if someone can see the future, everyone would be billionaires, right? Um, you know, so no, one’s going to think to themselves, Oh, this car is going to be worth, you know, 30, 40, 70 million someday.
Um, you know, it, that doesn’t enter your mind. You don’t think you just look at it as an old tire race car. Now these cars were. You know, designed and built to be driven on the street, you know, be a street, you know, it’s a regular driving car, daily driving car and then drive to the track race and drive home with it.
Um, could you do that? Yeah. Can you drive it on the street? But it was a bit of a tricky wicket to drive these cars. No, you got to get that thing above 3, 500 RPM to really start getting the thing kind of moving. Anything below 3, 500, I mean, that thing just doesn’t want to go. It’s just like, you know, so you got to kind of get that thing up in the rev range.
To really get that thing moving. Um, so it was a bit of a tricky weekend and said in traffic, what not [00:13:00] overheat, what it needs, the airflow going to, I mean, the car was designed to be a race car, but for homologation reason, yeah, it was still a street car technically. So, but you know, you need that airflow going to the car to really kind of get that thing cooled down and do what it’s supposed to do and get that thing all nice and lively.
So a lot, not a lot of people. Now, I was, I think the, uh, the one person that’s kind of most famous for driving that around is, um, uh, our old Phil Spector driving it around in California is well known for that and driving it very fast and just being an idiot. Um, but you know, there’s really not too many stories of, you know, a lot of sites and what I know there’s one guy, it’s a movie producer that owns one that, you know, he ended up buying it cause he had seen it when he was young.
And he’s like, I want to buy that car, something, you know, um, you know, seeing, and again, it’s driving on California. I mean, I don’t know where else you might see these things back then, but anyways, you know, by that time though, late six or seven, I mean, these things are changing. I mean, there was the one instance.
You know, the guy, you know, bought his private chair, he raced, you know, he bought for like [00:14:00] 10 grand, um, you know, race that whatnot for a few years. And then by the time he was done, he sold for 3, 600. I think it was in 67 or 68, something like that, 66 maybe. Um, but anyways, imagine that. Well, of course, you know, you look at the dollar exchange, you know, okay, what 3, 600 was back, you know, compared to today.
So what mid twenties, maybe mid thirties. Would that be a rough thing? I mean, I don’t know. I’m not a financial person, but anyways I mean, you know back then thirty six hundred bucks was still a decent amount of money But don’t have shit. I mean ten grand was but you know, these things being I think new it or 18 grand technically and in dollars and cents, but You know, it just It wasn’t what, you know, people look at it as today.
It was just look at a tire race car So these things were trading hands, you know getting sold for very little money There’s one that was sitting behind it was in a it was in a field I said, but I think it the one was it was sitting [00:15:00] for 15 years in a field behind a shop class because some guy that owned it was a race car guy, you know racing guy And he was done with it.
So he just donated it to the local, uh, uh, what the hell would you call it? Machine shop or technical school, you know, and do it and just sat back there forever because they really couldn’t do anything with it because where were they going to get parts for it? So, but anyways, so, but anyways, subsequently, obviously it was bought and redone and I believe that’s the one that Ralph Lauren owns, uh, was that one that was found in that field.
So, um, or sat in that field for that long of time. So, I mean, and here’s the thing is all the, all of them. Are accounted for and majority of them are driven and raced on regular basis at vintage events, which is awesome. I Was just down at Cavalino a few weeks back and there were three of them there at that show And what’s awesome about Cavalino is the fact is is You know, a lot of these shows you go to and those kind of cars, I mean, when you’re talking what they’re worth, you know, they’re behind velvet ropes.
And so [00:16:00] the closest you get to them is about five feet, which is awesome about Cavalino is they’re parked there. You can get right up to it. Just look right in the windows of them, everything like that. And you know, when they’re getting judged, they start them up. It’s awesome. I got to tell you, if you get the opportunity now, tickets aren’t cheap.
It’s 250 a ticket to go. I, if you’re a Ferrari person and you love Ferraris, you need to put that on your bucket list of things to do is go to the Cavalino Classic down in Palm Beach. Um, and it’s in the end of January, uh, usually is how they do it, but it’s usually it’s a four day event. Um, now, I mean, they have subsequent other things going on, but Saturday is, you know, a good day where everything’s out in the field and do all the judging, everything like that.
But you want to see some of the most gorgeous Ferraris you’ll ever see. I mean, it’s awesome. I mean, this year was great because, you know, being This is the 75th anniversary of Ferrari, they had one model from every year. Now they had, some years they had multiple models for that year. But, um, they had at least one model from every year.
And there were some just absolutely [00:17:00] drop dead gorgeous, gorgeous vehicles. I mean, look up online, go on there and look for videos of it. I got a couple real short ones on there from being there. Um, felt a little odd kind of trying to shoot video because you got some very, very High net worth individuals walking around and I wasn’t sure about people wanting to be on film or not So and I don’t want to have to go.
Hey, can you sign off this you okay with this? You know, so I didn’t want to bother with that. So I only did a couple real quick ones But anyways, so obviously as time passes on and get going, you know, these things start creasing in value and You know going up and the prices start getting up there like in the 80s You know people start paying more and more for these cars And getting up there and, you know, first to say, all right, first time it breaks, you know, a million dollars.
And then I think the one was it sold for like a, back then I think it was 80 something, can’t remember exact, um, I can’t read my own notes. Um, it was, you know, [00:18:00] sold for about a million dollars and two years later they sold for like 4. 2. So, and this was in the late 80s, mid to late 80s, um, and then as I was subsequently starts going up because it’s kind of one of those deals, you know, something starts going that the marketplace can start dictating it.
So all of a sudden, Oh, it sells for that. Okay. So the one I own should sell for that. Now here’s the one thing about the cars. Now, a lot of them have, you know, different histories to them, uh, and whatnot, you know, um, accidents, crashing, everything like that. Now like the one. You know, so far, the highest sale won that went to our man, Mr.
McNeil, that owns WeatherTech, you know, so rumor has it, and he’s never confirmed it or denied it, that, you know, he paid 70 million for his back in 2018 in a private sale, but now his had Le Mans history, and, uh, I mean, I think it was, you know, unmolested, you know, I think it never, no accident damage, I mean, you might have some little things, things here, but never, like, any structural, like, huge crashes, um, cause you got quite a few out there, and these were race cars.
So, um, yeah. You know, they were raised hard and, you know, [00:19:00] they’re going to subsequently have damage to them and it’s going to happen, you know, so there’s some out there that aren’t worth quite as much and there’s the one that sold was a 26 or, uh, was it the one just sold recently? I think it was like for one for 40 some million, but that was at the auction at Sotheby’s.
I think it was Sotheby’s or Gooding, one of the two. Actually, the person who drove it was killed in it. So it’s actually kind of got that kind of history and it was banged up pretty good. Um, but still, you know, it still went for quite a bit of money. Um, so it really doesn’t deter people, but you know, it gets you in that club.
Cause you have quite a few of the owners of these have owned them for quite a lengthy period of time. Um, you know, it’s, they. I mean, obviously they, they love the car. They love what it does and what it is. And, you know, and there’s numerous, numerous private events just for the GTO owners that go on throughout the years, um, here and there that, you know, it’s a, to [00:20:00] go to it, you got to own a 250 GTO, so, you know, you got these real, you know, obviously upscale private, you know, very private.
And if you’re a member of that club, Hey, you know, kudos to you. So obviously you were doing something right in life or as. Subsequently, some of these people that have bought them, um, were, have born into the ripe gene pool. Um, so anyways, my thoughts on this, you know, I mean, I love the car and like that. I mean, you know, they’re trying to, they’re, they’re saying that it’s more than likely, you know, and how long whatnot, but these will be a hundred million dollar cars.
That’s what the rumor is. That’s what people are saying. They’re saying, you know, how long would it be in 10 years, 20 years? Who knows? Um, you know, it’s getting to the point, though, it’s going to be interesting because quite a few of the owners, especially long term owners that have had them, they’re, you know, up there in age, and with what’s going on regarding, you know, estate, tax, all that kind of [00:21:00] stuff, when you pass these things on, you know, the family members, you know, unless it’s, you know, a hugely wealthy family, just they can’t absorb, you know, the, uh, Inheritance tax, estate tax, what have you, however it goes.
I mean, I know these people, they got ways to work around it. They set up these trusts and do all that kind of crap, but some of these people just might not be able to keep it just because they just, they can’t afford it. So they turn around and they have to sell it. And then a nice amount of the money, you know, obviously goes to pay taxes.
So, which kind of sucks. So it’s going to be interesting though, because as I said, there’s quite a few, um, owners that are getting to the stage in life that, You know, they’re going to be passing on, and so it’s going to see if they come to market, if they stay in the family, or if the kids get it, and then they just do sell it.
Because you see that quite a bit in this market, um, you know, not just in Ferraris, but in any kind of collector car, hyper car marketplace that, um, is the younger generations. They’re just not into cars. You know, you [00:22:00] have a lot of these gentlemen, they have these great collections and whatnot. And the family, the kids, the younger generation, they want nothing to do with it.
So they’ve got to figure out what to do with this stuff. So, it’ll be interesting to see what happens here the next, say, 5 to 10 years with some of these, like I said, some of these people are getting up there in age. Um, it’s going to be, it’s going to be an interesting out in the marketplace to see what happens to see how this comes about.
So I’m very curious to see what plays out. So, but I think I kind of want to mention the one probably, I don’t want to say he’s most famous, but one of my most favorite guys that owns one of these is our man, the drummer from Pink Floyd, Mr. Mason. Um. He’s owned it since 78. And there’s a, there’s a great story behind his is when they’re 86, 87, when they were going to, you know, obviously come back and go back on tour, they need to come up with the money for it.
And he actually put up his GTO as collateral to the bank so they could get the money, you know, the money needed up front to get the [00:23:00] tour up and going. So he actually put it up as collateral for that. That’s awesome. Um, that shows you what the values back then and how they looked at it. So that was able to get them up and going and get what they needed to do.
But he races his all the time. He’s very, very active in the Ferrari world with his GTO. And there’s a great video that came out just a little bit ago. Um, You know, I don’t know if you’ve ever seen it, but you know, a kid in a candy shop, a kid in a sweet shop, something like that. It was a Jody kid. She has her own, you know, YouTube channel that she does and she goes around and talks to people.
But she went and saw and what was awesome, it wasn’t Nick himself, it was his wife that she actually went and she met with. And then, uh, she took the, Nick’s wife took the GTO out and And Jody took out, uh, 250 SWB, I think it was, uh, and they follow each other, went so ahead. But I thought it was awesome. And tell you what, she tore it.
She’s a, she’s a heck of a racer herself in her own right. I mean, she can, she can put it to it. So kudos to her. I love, I love seeing that, um, seeing that it’s involved. And I know his kids, you know, get involved too, big time and with [00:24:00] doing all historic racing and that, cause he’s got several other cars that he also owns, um, in that.
So kudos to him. But anyways. Anyways. It kind of gives you a, uh, kind of a brief synopsis of my thoughts and everything in history on the GTO. And I think, you know, where things might be going. Um, I’m sure I could probably talk for hours on this if I get something else, you know, talking about it. We could talk forever on these things and all the stories and everything about it.
But I just kind of wanted to get into a little brief, brief on it. Just kind of thing just because, hey, it’s the 60th anniversary of it getting, uh, unleashed, unleashed out onto the world, into the racing world and history being made. So that’s what I wanted to talk about. So, hey guys, I really appreciate it.
And again, Uh, you know, I’m saying I’m trying to get the hang of this and getting these things put together correctly in these podcasts. So my apologizes, he’s being a little rough and maybe my talking not as smooth as it needs to be. Um, and doing some homes a lot and stuff like that. So I’m, I’m working on it.
So you gotta give me a little time. So, but again, Hey, I appreciate you guys listening and take care and stay safe.[00:25:00]
Copyright William Ross, Exotic Car Marketplace a division of Sixty5 Motorsports. This episode is part of Gran Touring Motorsports, Motoring Podcast Network and has been republished with permission.