Ferrari's 250 GTO is one of the most desirable and valuable cars on the planet. Today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe Datsun-Fauxrrari is a homage to ZZ-Top drummer Frank Beard's specialty-built 250 Spyder, but does its price rock?
There, one the beach, I could see it in her eyes. I only had a Corona… Eschewing the close of the classic Minutemen ditty of the same name, yesterday's fully restored 1970 Toyota Corona demanded ten-five to deposit your ass in its driver's seat. That apparently was not low enough for even its vintage Japaneseness to overcome, and it fell in an RCH-close 50.6% (at last count) loss.
Do you like ZZ Top? Of course you do. Do you know what is the most ironic aspect of that Texas trio? Of course you do, and that is that while Guitarzan Billy Gibbons and bass plucker Dusty Hill have for decades worn necktie negating beards, the guy wielding the sticks and skins - whose name is Frank Beard - actually limits his facial hair to only a Ned Flanders-like womb broom and occasional goatee.
I bring this up because Beard - the dude who doesn't actually have a beard - was once the owner of a custom Ferrari 250 GTO Spyder. But wait, you might be plaintively mewing, Ferrari never built a GTO Spyder, and of course cutting the roof off of one of the venerated GTO coupes would be grounds for having Justin Bieber human centipeded to your face.
Chillax, passion players, Beard's bastard was actually built from a far less dear 250 GTE frame and 3-litre Columbo mill. That car sold back in '06 for more than $300K owing to its provenance and drop dead sexy timeness.
I don't know about you but I certainly can't afford Beard's one-off, but perhaps today's Datsun-based replica of his not really a GTO will prove to be more of a deal.
This S30 in drag is claimed to be a promo vehicle for some company, probably one the makes cubic zirconia jewelry or breast implants. The change from Z to G is pretty convincing from the front where three fingernail shaped scoops sit between covered amber lamps and beneath a sexy rounded hood held down with pin locks,
Roll back a bit further and things start to go downhill however. The windscreen is Datsun stock and hence not as curvy as the real deal, while out back the car has a set of horizontally-oriented round lamps instead of the proper vertically set bubbles of an actual GTO.
Okay, the fact that it's a roadster and not a coupe brands this 1977 280Z-based car as a pretender to the throne, but at least it makes a good looking convertible, right? Well, yeah, but there doesn't seem to be a top. There certainly don't appear to be any windows as the doors have been sealed at their top edges and the winders have gone missing. The ad claims that the car comes with a custom top, but perhaps that's just some sort of tonneau, or snood, owing to the snaps along the back and windscreen header. For actual weather protection the ad says it comes with goggles… and a scarf. Oh mary!
Underneath one can imagine it's all Z, with a 2.8-litre 150-horse straight six, and a four or five speed manual for all your shifting pleasure. The seats are pure Z and while there is a Prancing Horse emblazoned wood-rimmed steering wheel, the rest of the dash is also a familiar sight to 280 owners.
Yeah, this is a weird car, and to make it even weirder, it's presently being offered in the Miami Craigslist while also being advertised on the Canadian Kijiji site and is actually located in Port Huron Michigan.
Wherever it is, the asking price is $26,000. That gets you a car that is a replica of a Ferrari that never existed, for what that is worth. It also gets you a kind of cool looking car that you could actually drive without the fear of a honey bee hitting it and doing fifty grand in damage to the paint.
The question for you of course, is whether that is worth the $26,000 the seller is asking for this promo homage? What do you think, is that a deal? Or does that price get your goat? (Yes I purposely mixed GTOs there)
You decide!
H/T to The Anti-Stig for the hookup!
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For $26,000, Own A GT-Faux