Hemmings Find of the Day – 1987 Modena Design Ferrari

After first coming across the Russo and Steele listing on Hemmings.com of this 1987 Modena Design Ferrari California Spyder, we thought we could add to what TA had already mentioned the other day regarding the Ferris Bueller replica Ferraris. Alas, as TA points out, the movie came out in 1986, a year before Modena Design and Research began their business (according to the Russo and Steele text). TA also notes that Mark Goyette, who built the three for the movie, sold his tooling to Precision Design. So as best we can tell, Modena Design had nothing to do with the Ferris Bueller cars, and the confusion stems from the fact that Goyette (who started building replicas in 1985) called his replicas the “Modena Spyder.”

Anyway. Replica Ferrari California Spyder. At Russo and Steele in Scottsdale next month. From the auction description:

From 1987 to 1989, a company called Modena Design produced replicas of Ferrari’s famed 250 GT California Spider. A fiberglass body is fitted to a tube frame with a reliable, powerful Ford 289 V-8 under the hood. The cars are strikingly accurate, and many would never be able to tell the real 250 CA and the Modena replica apart from the outside. This is precisely why they used one in the movie, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. It is also why Ferrari then sued Modena Design and won a cease and desist order. This has only made these cars more popular because now everyone knows how well these are made. Reportedly, just 50 were made and only 38 still exist. All these factors make the Modena recreations collectible in their own right and a unique, if odd, part of Ferrari history. The example seen here is particularly stunning with full black leather, Nardi wheel, and spectacular Boranni-style knock-off wire wheels. It drives as good as it looks with excellent power and intense, Italianesque sound track from the high-performance V-8 engine.

Are those Lucas taillamps?