Original ‘Ferris Bueller’ replica Ferrari crosses auction block

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One of four replica Ferraris built for the 1986 film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off crossed the auction block early March for a hefty US$313,000 (CDN$433,000)—not bad for a fibreglass-bodied car powered by a mid-’80s Mustang 5.0-litre V8. The sale took place March 2 at Bonham’s Amelia Island event, held concurrent with the annual Amelia Island concours d’elegance.

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The concours typically plays host to a number of auctions, in fact, usually of some very rare automobiles. This year that included an actual Ferrari 250 GT SWB California like the producers of Ferris Bueller were trying to emulate—a lot that ended up going for more than any other car ever sold at an Amelia Island auction.

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But first, the Bueller car: Bonhams says the replica, officially a 1985 Modena Spyder California, chassis number AZ218752, comes with full documentation from Paramount Picture Cars certifying it as one of the four built for the iconic John Hughes film, though some sources question whether it was actually built by the studio not for use on-screen, but instead as an engine-less promotional vehicle used for the publicity tour. That’d line up, too, with prior reports that the movie used only three cars, including one stunt vehicle.

In any case, it’s got a 5.0-litre V8 underhood now, backed by an automatic trans, since star Matthew Broderick couldn’t drive stick at the time. That powertrain is cradled in a custom spaceframe chassis, enveloped in fibreglass bodywork, and is paired with updates like disc brakes added later in its life. (That life involved the car being sold to an L.A. plastic surgeon in 1989, apparently, who held onto it for three decades before it was discovered and acquired by the seller over 10 years ago, stored outside of a garage.)

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The hero car used the most during filming was likely serial GTC0003; it sold at a Mecum auction in 2018 for US$407,000. Some reports say after decades hanging from the roof of Planet Hollywood in Cancun, GTC0002, the stunt car which has always been just an engine-less shell, sold last year, perhaps for US$337,000.

GTC0001 was rediscovered by Modena Design founder Neil Glassmoyer in 2013, and restored and updated for use as his daily driver for a number of years, before being sold by Barrett-Jackson in 2020 for US$396,000. If the car sold by Bonhams was indeed a screen-used Modena Spyder from the film, it seems to have been the bargain of the bunch.

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It’s an even better bargain when you consider the very next day, March 3, an actual 1962 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider – essentially the sort of car Hughes et al had only wished they could get their hands on for the movie – sold for US$18,045,000 (CDN$25 million) at a Gooding & Co. event, marking the most expensive lot ever sold in the history of auctions at Amelia Island.

No Fox-body 5.0 or fibreglass here—the Scaglietti-bodied Fezza, believed to be the only one painted new in Azzurro Metallizzato, rumbled up to the block via a 2.9-litre V12 topped by three Weber carbs. The California began life as a New York auto show show-car, one of just 37 covered-headlight SWB California Spiders. Since then, the Ferrari, still rocking its original chassis, coachwork, engine, gearbox, and rear axle, has racked up the trophy for the SWB California Cup at the Cavallino Classic; and earned itself Ferrari Classiche certification.

When it comes to classic-car sales, Hollywood pedigree helps, but it’s apparently no match when it’s up against the real thing.