Ferris Bueller Lives!

My father at VIR in the car we built together. Yeah, we have a lot of trouble sleeping at night.
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While I dont go along with Ferrari shutting replica builders down, there is absolutely no way to call this car anything but a Ferrari. Its a 250 GT California. It was originally called that, then they dropped the 250 part, then they dropped the California name and called in a "Modena" ??? You know some other car built in Modena that isnt a Ferrari? When the car was first available it came with Ferrari emblems everywhere, steering wheel, front grill (egg crate I might add), Ferrari script on the rear trunk lid, etc.. The same car was featured in Ferris Buellers Day Off, and was passed off as a real Ferrari in that movie. One of these cars hung from the cieling of Planet Hollywood at the Mall of America here in the twin cities for many years, passed off as a real Ferrari, as well as the actual car used in the movie (both lies). I believe the car even uses the exact same Triumph tail light assemblies as used on the original 250's. Its a Ferrari replica in the clearest sense possible. If they can arrest some poor guy in Italy for driving a Fiero with 308 body work and charge him with fraud, I sure wouldnt want one of these anywhere in my possession.

 

30 seconds on Google I pulled up this picture of a model of late 50's Ferrari 250 GT California. The CalSpyder is a dead ringer if there ever was one.
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Design patents are only valid for 14 years in the U.S.

http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/design/index.html#types

Trademarks can be protected forever...not designs.

 

Be that as it may, I still expect that Ferrari will issue a cease and desist. They have always been the most aggressive of all the carmakers regarding people copying their designs - and regardless of the legal technicalities, that's what this is: a copy.

 

If you look carefully at the "Modena" (which I don't think it was called but was made by Modena Design and called the Classic 250) you will see that it has a slight variation that was NEVER produced by Ferrari. The "Modena" had the California long wheelbase style fender vents but short wheelbase style hood. Ferrari never made a California like that. The LWB hood does not have the indent before the scoop. The LWB style fender vents number in 4 vents while the SWB style only has 3 vents.

But it clearly pushes the boudaries of some form of Trademark infringement and I can't see how Ferrari will not take some form of action. Whether they will actually win in court in the US who knows.

 

One of the reasons there are so many Cobra replicas out there is because Shelby did NOTHING to try to stop them for too long of a time. He asked them to please pay some form of royalty on there own and obviously not a single company did. By the time he did try to stop them it was no use as he allowed it for too long almost making it generic. Then he did his continuation cars to compete against the replicas. The Cobra Daytona Coupe replicas are really nice.

 

Shot this beauty at 'Fantasy Junction' last May. I think they had it priced at 1.2 million then.
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All they have to do is flip the prancing 'horse' logo in the other direction.

It may be 'a car', but then why copy an existing one? To me that is intent to deceptively represent and COPY an original. Its like a 'bootleg' automobile.

 

I will NEVER understand putting 308, 328, 348, 355 and even 550 kind of money into a replica of a Ferrari when you can go buy a nice example of a real Ferrari.

Just me, I guess.

 

That's not a California, but I'd guess you knew that ;-)

 

Yup,

Looks like a 250GT makeover....my guess.

 

http://www.fantasyjunction.com/archive.php?id=bc16643e0f66e0714776a6957008ecbe

 

Bingo, that's the guy, thanks Ramon.......what a beautiful car! I remember the day I was there, there was this beauty and two 275 GTB's , long and short nose.............AKA....Disneyland!

 

Because anyone who likes cars knows vintage Ferrari's are all "one offs", with no two exactly alike, to the average guy, and I would argue even among people who have been around these cars for decades, this CalSpyder thing IS a Ferrari. If it was sitting on the street and you seen it, your head would spin and the first word you would utter would be "Ferrari". If it drove past you in the opposite direction, freeway, two lane, even a side street, you would call it a Ferrari. To call it anything else is ludicrous. Its one thing to be able to stand there and study it for hours and begin to notice the subtle differences. On the street we dont have that luxury, time is too compressed, and when that car is rolling past, its going to be called a Ferrari by anyone who even remotely has a clue.

I dont know how I feel about them though. I am absolutely appaled to see any make of historic car with the wrong engine in it, but a replica is different. So the question is then, are replicas okay? There was a guy making real Ferrari replicas on authentic tube chassis and aluminum skin, but Ferrari pulled his plug. So now people cut up lesser cars to make the greater versions, and we are all losing out. I really dont know the answer, but if something like this would stop people from cutting up 250 GTE's, then I guess I could accept it.

 

Your key words may be, "If it was sitting on the street...." As soon as the owners starts the V8 in that beast, you will know its not Italian. Analogies are always risky, but try this one......How about pasting a bunch of First Growth 1982 Bordeaux labels on bottles of Two-Buck-Chuck to impress your friends who open up your wine refrigerator!

I'll always prefer the genuine article, no matter how humble. Obviously, if the majority of consumers agreed with me, plastic surgeons would be out of business.....

Just buy a 355 for God's sake!

 

So then, by your logic, a Testarossa or 288 body on a Pontiac Fiero is now a Ferrari, because most people seeing it in motion or just at a glance would believe it's one?

I disagree.

Roland Linder bought a severely fire-damaged F40, re-built it to LeMans spec using original blueprints, installed a brand new F-40 engine he bought on eBay, and called it his "F-40 LeMans." I don't know of anyone who said it wasn't a Ferrari, but many said it wasn't a LeMans. Only the factory at Maranello ever produced a LeMans F-40, they said.

Okay, that's one extreme.

Personally, I'm okay with what Roland did, since his car is all to spec. He didn't destroy another vintage car to create it. On the contrary, there's one more F-40 on the road that wouldn't be otherwise.


At the other, a Datsun 240Z with a re-body does not a 250 GTO make, nor a Fiero a Testarossa or 288 - no matter what it looks like at first glance or to the untrained eye.

 

Are you saying this is a good thing?

 

Craig, the one I am refering to came from an estate sale in CT last year. Maybe I'll drive it to Cavallino this year.

 

The price of a 250 GT is what? 2+MILLION right about now and climbing.

 

Love to see it Paulie, seriously

 

Man, some of you guys would hate the aviation world!!! Countless replicas and scale reproductions exist of planes-of-yesteryear such as the P-51 Mustang. No one I've ever met in the aviation community every derides the folks that build and fly these "pretenders." The way of thinking is that it is a reminder of a great plane that we wish we could have flown, but perhaps this is impossible, because either none exist or the cost is prohibitive. Can someone give me a rational, logical, well-thought out explanation (meaning no Ferrari-religion zealots) on why building a replica car is different than building a replica aircraft? The fact is, a very real stigma does exist in the automobile world toward replica cars...I guess I wish it was more like the aviation world. Hey...I've owned a real Ferrari, but I still think the CalSpyder is darn cool (but some of you would have me be embarrassed or ashamed to admit this). If you want to know what I think, and you probably don't, I think the replica haters are insecure, ie they're trying so desperately to hold on to the unique thing that makes them different from everybody else (in this case owning a real Ferrari) that they're terrified of a "pretender" being able to still some of the glory they feel should be all their own. That sounds more rude than I mean it to, but tell me that's not part of the issue...be honest!!!

 

Now toss in the possibility of taking a GTE chassis and installing a Calspyder body. Legally speaking in most any state, you would have a Ferrari because the chassis would indeed be an original Ferrari chassis. The purists would swoon, the local DMV would collect their license fee, and the local property tax collector would try to gouge you for taxes on your million dollar California spyder Ferrari. Oh the joy!

 

Well said.

The Cobra replica draws a ton of attention (more than my 512 actually). Most people say "what is that???" to which I always reply, "it is a replica of a late 60's Cobra. It is a kit that we built." 99% of the people on earth have no idea what a Cobra is. They do think it looks good, and they usually think it is cool that we built it. The 1% of people who have any idea at all of what a genuine Cobra is, know immediately that it is not an original, and 99% of the time they ask "does it have a 427?" The 1% of the 1% who don't ask already know because they know all the subtle cues. The bottom line is that it is a unique car that we built to our specifications for our own purpose, not unlike the original AC built roadster's that Shelby modified and raced.

You won't see Cobra badges on our car. In fact, we put our own badge - our family crest - on the side. Some people will add company badges to the sides of replicas, and I am not a fan of it. Then the car does become a counterfeit, as you are trying to pass it off as an original. All we have done is built a car that we think pays homage to the style and essence of the original. And it has been a fantastic project for us to enjoy.

Oh, there is another subtle difference: a fiero based TR "kit" winds up a dysmorphic thing with the performance of a fiero. Don't make the same mistake with our "kit". You may find yourself in a cloud of tire smoke drumming on the wheel of your 308 muttering "but mine is a Ferrari..."

 

True, however, the replica's in the aviation world are obvious and nobody attempts to pass them off as real. The aviation world also respects and encourages homebuilt aircraft. The cost/time of flying and/or creating a homebuilt aircraft lowers the number of eligible participants and the owners are proud to share what they have created not busy trying to make you think North American created it. I would also imagine that the encompassing nature of aviation (being airport based) restricts someone pretending they own an original when they own a replica. It is much more difficult to pass a fake P-51 off as real to a group of pilots, then telling a soccer mom in a Safeway parking lot that your Fiero replica is a real Ferrari. IMVHO