This car is titled as a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO but it’s never actually been to Italy, it’s actually a replica built by McBurnie Coachcraft using a Datsun 280Z as a donor car.
The team at McBurnie Coachcraft also built the Ferrari Daytona replica that was used in Miami Vice before legal action from Ferrari shut down their operations. They would later design the “RIOT car” that was used on the television series Baywatch.
Fast Facts – A Ferrari 250 GTO By McBurnie Coachcraft
- McBurnie Coachcraft was founded in the United States by Tom McBurnie to build replicas of Ferraris like the 250 GTO and the Daytona.
- Cars built by McBurnie featured in TV series like “Miami Vice” and “Baywatch,” as well as feature films like “The Italian Job,” “Ford v Ferrari,” and “Overdrive.” Using replicas in films is typically far less expensive, and easier to insure.
- The 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO you see here is actually a Datsun 280Z with a new fiberglass body, it has a few other changes too like new wheels and a Ferrari valve cover on the inline-six.
- This car has appeared in a number of major feature films as well as a Gucci photoshoot, it comes with movie scripts and storyboards, as well as movie documentation to prove its identity.
The McBurnie Coachcraft Ferraris
The two most famous cars developed by McBurnie Coachcraft included a Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona based on the C3 Corvette platform, and the car you see here, a Ferrari 250 GTO replica based on the Datsun 240Z family of vehicles.
The interior of the car has been significantly modified to make it look more like an authentic Ferrari 250 GTO. The seats, dashboard, center console, steering wheel, and door trim has all been changed.
Both of these cars were reasonably good facsimiles, certainly by the standards of the replica car industry, and they were deemed good enough to appear in a slew of TV series and feature films in place of the originals.
These on-screen appearances would eventually lead to the downfall of the company, the Ferrari Daytona replicas that were appearing in Miami Vice in the 1980s attracted the attention of Ferrari.
The Italian automaker filed a lawsuit against McBurnie Coachcraft, and the next season of the TV series would feature an authentic Ferrari Testarossa that had been donated by Ferrari.
The End And A New Beginning
Shortly after the Ferrari lawsuit, McBurnie Coachcraft was burned to the ground late one night in an act of arson – no one has ever been brought to justice for the crime, and it stopped the company from producing any more replicas as they had lost their fiberglass body moulds.
The company would later reform as Thunder Ranch, selling replicas of the Porsche 550 and Porsche 356 Speedster, as well as a hot rod kit called ″34 Lightning.″ McBurnie eventually sold the company to Carrera Coachwerks in 2012.
The engine is a Datsun straight-six, it’s been fitted with triple Weber carburetors and a “Ferrari” cam cover.
Ferrari 250 GTO Replica Shown Here
The car you see here actually started life as a Datsun 280Z before being converted into a “Fauxrrari” by McBurnie and his team.
The conversion included the fitment of many new fiberglass body panels, new seats were added along with a new dashboard, steering wheels, gear knob, and other interior parts to make the car look a little less Japanese and a little more Italian.
Under the hood you’ll find the original 280Z inline-six cylinder engine rather than a Ferrari V12, though a Ferrari branded valve cover has been fitted that’ll fool only the most unobservant of onlookers.
While most replicas will be relegated to the less frequented corners of eBay, the car you see here is likely to be a little more popular thanks to its multiple brushes with fame. This car appeared in Ford v Ferrari, The Italian Job, and Overdrive, as well as a Gucci photoshoot – and it comes with all the documentation to prove it.
The car is currently fitted with American Racing 17 inch wheels, these are probably the most glaring indication that the car isn’t original and the new owner may want to swap them out for something a little more period correct.
The car was built by McBurnie Coachcraft directly, it wasn’t a kit bought and built by an amateur at home. It’s powered by the Datsun inline-six fitted with triple Weber carburetors, a tuned exhaust system, and of course, that Ferrari valve cover.
Power is sent to the rear wheels via a 5-speed manual transmission and the car has a Rosso Corsa exterior, a black interior with bucket seats, American Racing 17-inch wheels, and Lionhart tires.
It comes with the movie scripts and storyboards included, all of its cinema documentation, and a Bob Bondurant signed poster.
If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing on Mecum. It’s due to cross the auction block in mid-May.
Images courtesy of Mecum
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
