Mecum 2016 Monterey Auction Highlight: 1985 Ferrari 288 GTO

Estimate

$2,000,000 - $3,000,000

Highlights

• S/N 57485
• Unrestored
• 11,980 kilometers
• European spec example
• Ferrari Classiche Certified

Few cars bearing the sign of the Prancing Horse were as highly anticipated as the new GTO unveiled at the Geneva Auto Salon in February 1984, but no-one could foresee that this was the car that would usher in an entire new lineage of Ferrari supercars that has come to include the F40 and F50, the Enzo and the contemporary LaFerrari.

Initially conceived as a homologation car for the FIA's Group B rally class, the new GTO was immediately pronounced a worthy recipient of the designation by no less an expert than Formula 1 World Champion Phil Hill, who piloted the original 250 GTO for Ferrari in international endurance racing. When the 288 GTO project was conceived in 1982, time constraints and commercial considerations caused Ferrari to use the 308 GTB as the basic starting point.

The new Pininfarina-styled body, a broad-shouldered combination of carbon fiber and Kevlar-reinforced fiberglass panels (the first use of these space-age materials in a road car), featured such traditional GTO elements as the triple body side vents and "ducktail" rear spoiler. It was what many thought the 308 should have looked like in the first place, but the similarities were no more than skin deep. Based on the engine used in the Lancia LC2 prototype racer, the GTO's twin turbocharged-and-intercooled 2.9L/400 HP V-8 was laid longitudinally in the all-new tube steel chassis along with a Formula 1-style 5-speed gearbox.

The sophisticated chassis and Formula 1-based suspension and brakes provided phenomenal grip and agility to go along with the V-8's plentiful power, and yet, in contrast to the Spartan 1962 original, the new GTO couched its passengers in luxury, with comfortable leather seats and optional power windows, AM/FM/cassette stereo and air conditioning. In short, the 288 GTO was the most complete Ferrari in a generation, a Grand Touring machine with racing blood in its veins.

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