The Ferrari Omologato is Ferrari’s tenth one-off V12.
by Wallace Wyss –
Ferrari is in business to make money. A rich guy calls you up and says he wants a special one off car, you damn well better build it. But this tifosi wanted a 250GTO kinda car but with all the modern stuff. So they took an 812 Superfast and began adding stuff like say the flush scoops on the hood of the ’62 GTO. The 250GTO had three very distinctive ones in the center of the nose. This has two but even three wouldn’t have helped because the donor car is so busy.
And they call it the Omologato which means homologated. Originally Ferrari built GTOs on SWB derived platforms and called it “omologato” because they wanted the competition to know it has been homologated as a GT car. It was a big lie but they got away with it. The FIA subsequently held up homologation on the 250LM but a used car run by a dealer won LeMans anyway in ’65.
Around back, the rear window of this new one-off has been replaced by a set of louvers, which look like a tacky steal from the Lamborghini Miura of more than half a century ago.
The 1962 GTO had a small tail spoiler, so does this one. The tailfin looks like the original GTO but is “lost” with all the other stuff of a modern car like the underside aero influencers coming up the back. Two tone paint–in this case two colors of red–is also brought back looking like a racing stripe from the side. Inside they bring back something I liked in the ’50s and ’60s, black crackle non-glare paint.
Overall I find it more gadgeteering than a true homage to the ’62 GTO series I. But hey the customer was handing them money to create his dream. GM won’t do that with a Corvette–you pick from the catalog, bub. We can’t be bothered with specials.
And Ferrari might have had an ulterior motive in using the name GTO because some replica company managed to win in court against them the right to use the name “GTO,” the court ruling Ferrari hadn’t used the name GTO in five years, So you can bet every five years there will be another GTO coming out of Maranello.
I like the drawing though. Think I’ll make a painting of it…
Let us know what you think in the Comments.
THE AUTHOR: Wallace Wyss writes car histories. He is also doing fine art portraits on commission of classic cars for private owners. Write malibucarart@gmail.com for a list of prints available.
Images compliments of Ferrari.
AREN’T THESE DESIGNS GETTING A LITTLE REDUNDANT?
Skip,
Yes, I agree with you. In realty there is only so much that be done with a car design and still make it look good to our eyes.