One of the best movies ever made, a definite teen classic, is Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Do you remember the sporty little red car that Ferris insisted on driving through the streets of downtown Chicago and unmercifully was wrecked? The one where two parking attendants took on a joy ride? The one that he convinced Cameron he would be able to “erase” any mileage put on the car by driving home backwards? The only car that they could conceivably and believably pick up Ferris’ girlfriend Sloane from high school in? Yes, that car.
That car was a Ferrari 250GT California Spyder. This car played an integral part in the movie, it signified Ferris’ day off, and it was the source and means of Cameron’s problems. At the time of the movie, this version of the Ferrari was already the famous 250 series with only 55 ever being made and only 34 had the same covered headlights. This model was designed specifically for the American market, after being convinced by Jon Von Neumann and Luigi Chenetti to create a performance vehicle named after their best market.
It features only two seats, a convertible top, and more horsepower than in its standard European trim. It has the same 140 mph horsepower and the same competition chassis as the Ferrari’s lapping the race track. The California Spyder emerged with supercar performance and became highly desirable due to its limited availability.
This car was definitely the scene stealer in Ferris Bueller’s Day off and even years later is quite memorable. But here are some facts you may not know:
The Ferrari used in the film wasn’t a real Ferrari, since it was too expensive to rent, they made three modified MG sports car, with fiberglass covers. The MG sports car is a British sports car brand founded in 1924 The MG got its name from Morris Garages a dealer of Morris cars in Oxford, England. In addition to three modified MG sports car, Modena Design and Research made additional replicas for using a Mustang 5.0 engine and an MGB frame.
After the movie, Ferrari pursued litigation against Modena Design and Research for replicating the Spyder. The license plate of Cameron’s father’s car, only seen when Ferris drives the car out of Cameron’s garage says “NRVOUS.” Viewers of the movie never see the license plate of the car again.
When Ferris, Sloan and Cameron pick up the Ferrari at the parking garage you can see the movie camera and its reflection in window directly behind Ferris and Cameron.
In the scene where the Ferrari crashed, the fiber glass hood ripped off but branches were put over the rip to hid it so that the camera didn’t record it. Only 104 of these Spyders were ever produced, hence the reason behind why the producers received several angry letters from car aficionados who believed that they had wrecked a real Ferrari in the film. The car that was parked to the left of the Ferrari was also a MG, a MG TC.