Classic Wheels
Gallery 1
A track-ready Italian convertible that set Hollywood alight.
IF FERRARI once fashioned its road cars as being built equally for commuting and competing, it was perhaps never better expressed than in the 250 GT SWB introduced, in coupe form, in 1959. Indeed, Enzo Ferrari himself said of this model: “These are cars that the sporting client can use on the road during the week and race on Sundays.”
In this, he may have been getting a hurry-up in both arenas from the likes of Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, Aston Martin, Porsche and even the new Chevrolet Corvette in the booming US market.
These Ferrari 250 GT Pininfarina cabriolets, in Series I and II guises, were well equipped and praised for their touring comfort. Several hundred were built.
Concurrently, however, there was the California Spyder, also on the 2600mm wheelbase, but with less equipment, various body panels in aluminium, and mechanicals derived from the more highly tuned 250 GT Tour de France coupe.
For all that success, it was one of the most tumultuous times in Ferrari’s history, the increasing meddling of Mrs Ferrari eventually leading to the late-1961 ‘palace revolt’ in which three of the company’s top engineers abandoned the company.
The rare 250 SWB California Spyder is today among the most sought-after of classic Ferraris – ironically, with no small thanks to a fibreglass-bodied replica with a 1963 Ford V8 and MG-B tail-lights that met an unfortunate, aviating end in the 1986 hit movie, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
Magical V12
Artisan style
Matter of length
Ferrari’s 250 series was made in two wheelbases, 2400mm (SWB) and 2600mm (LWB). The California Spyder here shared the short wheelbase with its famous sibling, the Ferrari GTO Berlinetta. The simplicity of a steel tube spaceframe, front-mounted engine, coil/wishbone front and leaf-sprung rear kept even the convertible light (less than 1200kg) and fast. Four-wheel discs hid behind 15-inch Borrani wire wheels.
Fast & factual
1. Dough nut
A very close relative of the 250 SWB California Spyder is the bold and bizarre 250 GT ‘Breadvan’ 1962 race car
It’s one of the 1980s’ most famous film cars, but director John Hughes’ original Ferris script called for a “Mercedes AMG”
3. The price is… what!
Like what you see? This ’62 car was sold by RM Auctions in 2012 for $US8.6m; a ’61 model fetched $US15.9m in 2015 and another $US17.2m in 2016
4. Fast and famous
Talk about a who’s who of cool: 250 SWB California Spyders were owned by Steve McQueen, Clint Eastwood and James Coburn
The Ferris replica Modena Spyder was designed by Bob Webb, who’d earlier worked on the famous Roger Penske/Bruce McLaren Zerex Special
