As in most years, there’s a number of classic anniversaries happening in 2022, including significant automotive landmarks such as 60 years since the launch of the Ford Cortina, Austin/Morris 1100/1300, MGB, Triumph Spitfire, Alfa Romeo Giulia and BMW 1500, as well as the 50th anniversary of probably the most revered of all Porsche 911’s, the Carrera 2.7RS. While we won’t be able to mark them all, we shall endeavour to commemorate at least a few – including those listed just now – and we’ll start with perhaps one of the most famous, and certainly most valuable, classics of all – the mighty Ferrari 250 GTO, which celebrates its 60th birthday this year.
The 250 GTO was intended to compete in Group 3 GT racing against the likes of the E-Type, Shelby Cobra and Aston Martin Zagato GT, DP212, and DP214. Development was started by Giotto Bizzarrini, but Enzo Ferrari fired him in 1962 and the project was brought to fruition by Sergio Scaglietti and Mauro Forghieri.
The GTO’s racing rivals
The letters GTO stand for Gran Turismo Omologato, while the 250 indicates the cubic capacity of each of the engine’s twelve cylinders. This was supposed to indicate that the 250 GTO was a homologated race version of Ferrari’s fabulous 250GT SWB road car, but if you put them side-by-side you’d be hard pushed to see them as anything other than two distinct models.
In fact, the 250GT provided only the bones for the GTO in the form of the chassis – the glorious V12 engine came from the 250TR, and the goal was to generate 100bhp per litre. The body – what a silhouette! – was created by using the wind tunnel at the University of Pisa and is one of the most dramatic shapes in motoring history. It was also exceptionally aerodynamic by the standards of the time, enhanced by the inclusion of an integrated rear spoiler, a first on an ostensibly road car.
However, the GTO was clearly meant for the track. There was no speedometer, carpeting or headliner, seats were finished with cloth upholstery and ventilation was via external air vents – luxurious the GTO was not.
All this resulted in a top speed of c.170mph, phenomenal for the time, and the 250 GTO enjoyed considerable success on the track, starting with a second-placed finish on the car’s debut at the Sebring 12 Hours with Phil Hill and Olivier Gendebien sharing the driving duties. 250 GTO’s won the 1963 and ’64 Tour de France races (no, not that one) as well as the Daytona 24 Hours in ’64, and achieved high-placed finishes at Le Mans..
Officially, Ferrari needed to build 100 examples to qualify the car for homologation, but actually got nowhere near that number. As far as is known, 36 examples of the 3-litre model were built and remarkably, all bar one are believed to still be extant. To reach the century, production of the 250GT SWB was also included, with the GTO being listed as a modification of the GT. While this might seem to be playing fast and loose with the rules, Aston Martin and Jaguar pulled a similar stunt in homologating the DB4 Zagato GT and E-Type Lightweight respectively.
The Ferrari 250 GTO was effectively retired from racing after the 1964 season, after winning the GT Championship for three years in succession, though examples were raced by privateers for a few years. Nowadays – despite the cars staggering value, which we’ll come to later – one or two still see track action at the Goodwood Revival, for example.
When new, a 250 GTO cost c.$18,000 in the USA (about $156,000 in modern terms), and buyers had to be approved by Enzo Ferrari himself. Once retired from the track, its beauty, track pedigree and rarity saw collectors start to take a serious interest in the few available cars, and prices started to move steeply upwards from the late 1970’s/early 1980’s onwards. The million-dollar barrier was breached in 1986, and just three years later one was sold for $13m. Prices collapsed in the 1990’s, dropping back below $3m, but since then have risen inexorably to the point where a Ferrari 250 GTO fetches prices not dissimilar to the most fabled Old Master paintings, but then, these are mobile works of art. The highest price paid at auction for any car, not just a 250 GTO, is $48,405,000 for a 1962 GTO at RM Sotheby’s Monterey auction in 2018, and another example changed hands privately for a claimed $70m in 2018.
There were a handful of related models built, including three versions built with 4-litre engines and known as 330 GTO’s, but perhaps the most interesting – and certainly most unusual-looking – is the so-called “Breadvan”. This was actually based on a SWB 250 GT and designed to compete with the 250 GTO by Bizzarrini after his departure from Ferrari, it gave him the opportunity to develop ideas he first had for the GTO. It does not share the “standard” car’s gorgeous curves but has a heavily restyled nose and high sharply cut-off tail, hence the name. There is just the one, which I’ve seen a few times at both Silverstone and Goodwood, and despite its uniqueness, it sees regular track action.
330 GTO and Breadvan
Perhaps the best-known owner of a 250 GTO is Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, who is another owner who is prepared to let his car be raced in historic motor sport – his car came third in the 1962 Le Mans 24 Hours, behind another GTO, but is regularly seen at Goodwood. He paid what now appears a ludicrously low £35,000 for it in 1977, using royalties he received for Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Here. The same car was used as a guarantee against the costs of the band’s 1987 Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour in 1987, such was the inflation in GTO prices. Fashion designer Ralph Lauren is another famous GTO owner, having bought his 1962 car in 1985 for “just” $650,000 – not quite as prescient as Mason, but he’d be looking at a major return on investment were he to sell. Seems he’s not quite so prepared to let his car be seen in public, sadly.
Nick Mason with GTO, and Ralph Lauren’s similar car.
A 250 GTO was also at the centre of a recent high-profile court case involving British racing driver and classic car dealer Gregor Fisken, who paid somewhat more for his car than Mason or Lauren – $44m in 2017. This example had an even more illustrious history than Mason’s, being the one that finished first at Sebring in 1962 but was supplied without its original gearbox – itself valued at about $1m. The case revolved around the obligation of the seller to deliver the missing gearbox and was settled in Fisken’s favour.
The first time I saw a 250 GTO was at the Concours of Elegance at Windsor Castle back in 2012, and again in 2016, when the ex-Graham Hill white 1962 example was on display. Since then, I’ve been lucky enough to see others at Hampton Court in 2020 (the Fisken car, now owned by Joe Macari) and the Goodwood Revival in 2019, where the brave owners actually let their precious asset be raced – imagine the insurance premium…although obviously if you can afford one of these, you can certainly afford to insure it.
It’s a spectacular car, regardless of whether you think it’s worth the equally spectacular prices or not. The long, low nose hiding that V12, the long fastback leading over the rear haunches to the cut-off tail and subtly integrated rear spoiler lend the car an aggressive and purposeful stance, as if ready to take off at any moment, yet it doesn’t have the brutality of, say, a Ford GT40. As the cliché goes, it looks fast even when standing still.
The Ferrari 250 GTO is one of those classics to which the word “iconic” genuinely applies. Because there are so few, and the chances of owning one so remote for all but the very wealthy, it’s one of those cars that induces a gasp whenever you see one, makes you stop and stare and our classic car world is all the richer for it. Happy 60th birthday to a very special car indeed!
