FERRARI 288 GTO

The incomparable Mr Hill's 55669, complete with slicks, resting from track duty where it operates at club events as a giant-killer, dispatching all manner of heavier F40s!
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54235, sold by Hampshire Classics Ltd in the UK to a USA buyer... this GTO was built with no AC and no PW.

Light.
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my bad - i'm told this is chris evans' gto and that he's repainting the black cali spider white too !

 

DIdn't Marcel tell you the chassis number then?

Tony doesn't know. He doesn't actually get out to any of these things. He just stays at home and cross posts the pictures from one forum to another

Jonathan

 

should've come to this for sure but was there enough food with you there, fingers ?

 

There would have been but I ate your share so there wasn't any left over.

Jonathan

 

Any more information on the White 288?

 

There is a model of it...

http://albaco.com/store/product.php?productid=46646&cat=327&page=1

 

I was just kidding you of course

Seriously though, I understood Chris Evans has 2 288 GTOs and one of them is 55233 (B 23 CBW)? Correct about the 2 cars?

 

Marcel mentioned it only in passing so I have not confirmed its chassis number.

Yes, I have heard that Tony is a naughty boy...

Here is a model of a white GTO.
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This is a model of the 1984 Geneva Salon prototype 50255, complete with white Goodyear tire script, raised hood section, "GTO" plate etc. Not bad. Im not a big model person but I am noting that some of them are fairly faithful in detail...
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Silver & black also. Whats interesting here is the model manufacturer has chosen to adorn both of them with a set of Ansa Megaphone pipes. They have the right idea!

Of interest is the fact that both silver cars (54225 & 56335) have been returned to red, as has the black car (53295), I am told...
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Proud designer Leonardo Fioravanti and his masterpiece... images Octane.
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The ex-Luigi Bruzio chassis number 57701, delivered new on export plates EE.160.AK in late 1985
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Completely agree. I had the most bizarre lunch with Classiche last week. My car is dead stock except for the Megafonos - which I love. I have the original exhaust wrapped up in bubble wrap in storage in my garage. For Classiche I need to take off the exhaust that I like, replace it with the exhaust that I like less, get the photos taken, swap back to the Megafonos and in effect invalidate my Classiche certificate. FORGET IT MAN!!! This is for fun. Ban me from events because I have a personal preference as to exhaust!!!!

 

LOL. Dont you have a friend who's 288 GTO has a stock exhaust on it available for pics...

 

Those red stripes are stunning!! This is my favourite GTO interior... This car kills me!!

There is nothing to be compared, once you see one by your side you just forget everything else with four wheels...

 

Joe,

whats the deal with the megaphone pipes? were they an option or just something that was available aftermarket? did everyone get them from the same manufacturer? i've seen many photos of megaphone exhausts on the 288 and they all look pretty similar.

 

ansa or tubi ?

 

Are these 3 Brunei cars? I don't have my notes handy so i can't check. Its a shame they've been painted back to red. I wish the Brunei cars would have kept their special liveries

 

no idea on the black one - but the silver cars werent Brunei, both new to Sam Bardor iirc from the details in this thread
54226 the 87th GTO & 56333 the 185th GTO

 

As Chaos says, the silver cars were the Bardor cars - he painted all his Ferraris silver at that time. Both cars still remain in the USA in red.

The black car is an early French car registered 912 NNG 75, and I am told that it is now back to red.

Brunei cars: I am told one of them (RHD car) is in Florida, and I think it is in fact black.

Image by Claudio Pallard
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Steve:

The Megaphone pipes are kind of a big deal, because they look absolutely evil, sound like nothing else, allow the engine to breath, and impress following motorists with a flame-throwing display from time-to-time!

Seriously though, the first few units were crafted by Michelotto for sporting clients such as Albert Uderzo and others who wanted to drive the cars in the way & manner for which they were homologated. Undoubtedly, Michelotto were the ones who got Ansa involved, and the systems Ansa made were supplied to 288 GTO customers as a sports unit. I recall these systems floating around in the late 80s available via Ferrari or Ansa. The Ansa units were handcrafted (you can see the spot welds along the seam at the bottom of each pipe, and the tips are clearly folded over and hammered flat over a wooden buck) and they were definitely made of mild-steel so they sound absolutely hilarious. The outsides of the pipes themselves were treated to some sort of annealing process which means they were finished with a satin almost-black finish. They were supplied with Ansa stickers on the outward side of each pipe. These stickers lasted all of a few miles before burning off but I can ALWAYS see traces of the stickers and this tells me if it is an original unit. I do recall a friend looking for an original unit circa early 90s and by then they were all gone for sure. He contacted Ansa and the response came back "impossible!" which I guess was Ansa's way of saying pay us a fortune and we will do it - they honestly cannot be that hard to make.

Shortly thereafter, in the early 90s, Tubi Style got in on the act and made a second series of the Megaphone system for the GTO. The units made by Tubi differed in that they were made of stainless steel, which means they emit a sound that is not as "Basso Supremo" as the original mild steel units, and they have a shiny/polished contemporary finish that seems out of place for the GTO's era. The stainless Tubi sounds more metallic, or some may say "tinny". The units were characteristically different too. In studying the Tubis, youll notice that the tips do not have the aggressive 'sawn-off' look of the originals because the tips are 'canted', angled ever-so slightly upwards, and they are at least an inch shorter in their protrusion from the back of the car, and have a slightly bigger dimension opening at the tip. For example, look at 56767 (B 134 CHG) as featured in the big EVO test with all 4 Supercars. Compare it with the images below and upon studying them you'll get the idea. I am told Tubi no longer makes this unit and I have heard that Bob Houghton has yet another supplier who can make to order.

Sheesh, if Ive got this much to say on exhaust pipes, I think I need to go on vacation! Now you know more than you need to know about these units. I will say its the usual case of if you have them you love them, and if you dont, youre not missing anything - unless you've heard one, then you're in trouble! Id say about a quarter or less of the cars have the Megaphonos if I had to guess, but thats just a guess based on what I encounter.

Pictured below is an original Ansa Megaphono unit bearing all the characteristics Ive described above. This is 56331.
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Jim Jaeger's 57709 is part of a truly astonishing collection of impeccable provenance. A nicer gentleman who owns such cars one would be hard pressed to encounter...
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