Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder Review

The California exists because Ferrari's American dealers asked for it. Luigi Chinetti, the importer, and John von Neumann, the West Coast dealer, wanted an open car that could be driven through the week and raced at the weekend, which the plusher 250 GT Cabriolet by Pinin Farina was not. Enzo Ferrari agreed, and Scaglietti in Modena built a prototype in late 1957 and production cars from 1958 on the Tour de France berlinetta's 2,600 mm chassis.

In 1960 it moved to the SWB berlinetta's 2,400 mm chassis, sitting 30 mm lower. Ferrari counts 106 in all, nine with aluminum bodies and all but one with left-hand drive. Ferris Bueller's Day Off made it famous again in 1986, though the film's wide shots used reproductions.

Underneath, it is a 250 berlinetta without a roof, about 100 kg heavier for the bracing an open body needs. The 2,953 cc Colombo V12 has one camshaft per bank and three Weber carburetors; it made about 240 hp in the long-wheelbase cars and 280 hp in the short-wheelbase ones, which got new cylinder heads and bigger valves. A four-speed gearbox drives a live rear axle on leaf springs, the long-wheelbase cars used drum brakes until late 1959, and every short-wheelbase car has discs.

Judged against its own era it was a sparse car: a folding canvas top, an optional hardtop and a cabin plainer than the Cabriolet's. Owners raced them from the start, and Bob Grossman and Fernand Tavano finished fifth overall at Le Mans in 1959 in a long-wheelbase car. Sports Car Market's profile of one praised a tractable, high-revving V12 that works as well in town as on the open road.

Ownership is now as much about provenance as mechanics. The Colombo V12 is well understood and shares parts with the rest of the 250 family, but at these prices every job is done to restoration standard, and buyers look for matching numbers on the engine, gearbox and rear axle, Ferrari Classiche certification and a continuous history.

It cost about $12,000 new in America. In August 2025 Gooding Christie's sold a 1961 short-wheelbase car, one of two built with alloy bodies to full competition specification, for $25,305,000, the highest price yet paid for a California at auction, and in April 2026 RM Sotheby's sold another 1961 short-wheelbase car in Monaco for €16,655,000, about $19.5 million. Long-wheelbase cars sell for less.

Judged strictly, it is a 1950s convertible with a plain cabin, a live axle and running costs set by its value, and the category marks say so. Judged as what it was built for, it is a berlinetta that can be driven to the circuit with the top down, under one of the best-looking bodies Ferrari has sold, and that is why it is among the most sought-after cars Ferrari has built. Ferrari reused the California name in 2008 for a front-engined convertible, which says how much the original still counts for.