Ferrari 250 GTO – The Most Iconic Car in History

Ferrari 250 GTO – Iconic Car

Ferrari 250 GTO was named iconic car decades ago. And that is true! This is a marvellous machine. An engineering achievement of its time, the Holy Grail of collectors the world over, ownership of which grants entry to all motoring events and membership of an elite club of owners who hold their own meetings in phenomenal locations around the world. The Ferrari 250 GTO is a motoring icon that still delights today.
Ferrari 250 GTO is a car produced by the Italian company Ferrari in a small series in the 1960s. It is considered one of the company’s most famous models and is currently the brand’s most expensive model. Produced between 1962 and 1964, it became famous in many races, where its main competitor was the Aston Martin DB4 GTZ. The first generation 250 GTO had the characteristic three air intakes on the bonnet between the lights, just above the radiator. It was produced (according to various sources) in 33 or 36 copies. The car was equipped with a 12-cylinder engine with a capacity of 3 litres, which produced over 300 hp, which was impressive for the early 1960s (by comparison, the Porsche 911 from 1964 had an output of around 130 hp, and it was considered a sports car with good performance). The car owed its high performance not only to its engine, but also to an aerodynamic body that was innovative for the time. Top speed of GTO is 265 km/h (0-100 km/h: 6.2 seconds).

Ferrari 250 GTO history

As already mentioned, it was produced from 1962 to 1964. The model was developed due to homologation requirements. The FIA required 100 road cars of every Group 3 Grand Turismo racer, but thanks to VIN number tricks Ferrari only produced 36. When the committee turned up, Ferrari ‘moved’ vehicles between car parks, meanwhile distracting the committee so that they were under the impression that there were the required 100 vehicles in front. Meanwhile, the VIN numbers were jumped around every few to give the impression that there were more vehicles than there actually were. The letters GTO in the name are Gran Turismo Omologata, which from the Italian simply means “Approved Grand Turing Vehicle” and the number 250 is the capacity of each cylinder in cubic inches.
The car has everything that Ferrari had at the time – top class styling and performance. This was made possible in particular by Giotto Bizzarrini, who tested the 250 GTO in the wind tunnel, and Sergio Scaglietti, who designed the iconic, timeless bodywork. Colombo’s Tipo 168 engine was used to power the car. This is the 3 litre V12 unit previously used in the 250 Testa Rossa that won Le Mans(!) This engine had 296 bhp and 294 Nm. The cars were hand-built, making each copy different. This was due not only to customer preference, but also to various visible and invisible improvements that were made during production.

Number 4513 and N. 3413 –  unique GTO’s

The most famous and currently most expensive car sold at auction is number 3413. It was the third of 36 cars built. At the same time, it was one of only 7 cars that received this more “aggressive” look. In total, #3413 won 21 races between 1962 and 1964, including the most important one, the GP of Targa Florino, which won Ferrari the constructors’ championship in 1964.
Although the GTO is the most expensive car in the world, the aforementioned model has become even more sought after and… even more expensive. Less than 3 years ago, RM Sotheby’s auction house sold Ferrari 250 GTO No. 3413 for $48,405,000, still the most expensive car sold at auction today. The car’s original amount is rather abstract, as in 1962 it cost “only” $18,500, (if its creator, Enzo Ferrari, accepted the buyer). But what surprised us, is that the most expensive 250 GTO is.. not the most expensive! It was revealed that few months before (April 2018) someone bought very rare silver Ferrari 250 GTO from 1963. That car won Tour de France and was sold for $70,000,000!

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Ferrari 250 GTO as… a work of art?

A few years ago, a company from Modena, the city where the 250 GTO was produced, wanted to create replicas of the iconic car. Ferrari took them to court for intellectual property infringement and won. This means that for the first time in history the car has been recognised as a work of art. In addition, the court also ruled that the artistic value of the vehicle has been proven by numerous awards, and that all rights of production, commercialisation and promotion belong exclusively to Ferrari.