Ferrari 365 GT California Spider

The Ferrari 365GT California Spider was announced in parallel with the 330 GTC at the 1966 Geneva Salon. It was the ultimate Ferrari of its day, the flagship for which only Ferraris most loyal and valued VIP clients were eligible. Production totalled only 14 examples, each being hand crafted at the Pininfarina works in Turin, and Ferrari factory at Maranello.  All 14 Ferrari 365GT California Spider were built for the super-rich, people who inhabited that rarefied air in which bespoke deals were done with the utmost discretion. Used to being able to get exactly what they wanted, they would have looked at a ‘run of the mill’ 250 GT or 275 and decided that they wanted something a little more special, more individual, more befitting of their status. The ‘California Spider’ nomenclature is most commonly associated with the 250 GT series of cars, of which around 100 examples were made, predominantly for the US market. Whilst the Ferrari 365GT California Spider was visually and technically a departure from the 250 GT series cars, it maintained the same philosophy, to be the ultimate Ferrari GT Spider. Using the same well-developed chassis as the 500 Superfast before it, the 365 California Spider was then wrapped in an evolutionary Spider body by Pininfarina designed by Tom Tjaarda, culminating in Ferraris most expensive road car of the time. This model is also considered to be one of the last great coach built Ferraris, encompassing unique elements such as the covered headlights, pop-up driving lights and door handles which suggest a mid-engine layout. Another unique feature to this model is the angular tail styling, a big departure from any previous traditional designs. The mechanical DNA of this Ferrari 365GT California Spider is also very significant, it is the first road-going Ferrari model offered with the 4390 cc V12 Colombo engine. It features a single overhead camshaft per bank and was assigned the factory type reference 217B, featuring a bore and stroke of 81mm X 71mm and ‘outside plugs’. The engine was coupled to a five-speed all synchromesh gearbox, with drive taken through a propeller shaft to a rigid rear axle.