Retractable Hardtop
Ferrari can do many things other car companies cannot, including building a machine that links past with present and that tries, however successfully, to be the fastest car to the market and back. The Ferrari California, premiering in 2008, takes its name from a 50-year-old classic while introducing some modern-day developments. It’s the first Ferrari to sport a retractible hardtop, to rock a dual-clutch 7-speed transmission, and the first to wield a front-engine V8.
The California is a “2+,” a two-door with what we’ll all agree to call two ass-holders in what we’ll all agree to call the “backseat.” Which puts it in the class of “grand tourer,” a fine distinction for a car that really does look like it just wants to get on the road and stay there. Oh, and you’re of course invited to come along.
Built for For Small Friends
Its link to the past is right there in the name — the California is so named for the 250 GTs that awed a 20th-century world in the late ’50s. You’ll remember the most famous dignitary of the 250 series as the car in the 1986 John Hughes classic “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” That was a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT Spyder California, one of few than a hundred cars (as noted by Cameron). (The car in the movie was a replica, not an actual 250, because if it had been, Ferrari enthusiasts would have burned down Hollywood had Hughes actually destroyed one of the rare beauties.)
Speaking of flying, you probably remember the Calfornia’s ancestors from a movie called “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” The mythic car in that film was a (say it with me now) 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder. It ended its life by sailing out a window, a scene which horrified the Ferrari cognoscenti in audiences across America — who may still have unnecessary nightmares, as the car in that film was a replica. There were fewer than a hundred 250GTs made, and as a result they were valuable cars. To give you an idea just how valuable: In 2008 a 250GT sold at auction for more than $10.8 million. Million. Dollars. So, yeah. Replica.
A Breathtaking Machine
But anyway yes the new California gets its name from those cars of yore, and while it’s sure a fine product from those Italian fellows, it seems to have gotten a lot of gossip about being a “nice” car. Pretty but not exotic, and with a rear end that offends some, it’s clear that the new California has a mellow side that its cousins do not.
And this is partly in the design — a car that can do many things well, and most of them better than almost every other car on the road. So while it’s a bit peculiar for a Ferrari, it’s still a breathtaking machine when compared to … gosh, anything with a backseat. Just make sure you call shotgun at least once.
Visit Mark Cella‘s site, www.Mark-Cella.com for more Mark Cella Ferrari info.