California dreaming
By Barry Park | theage.com.au | 23 May
Remember the 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California that featured in Ferris Bueller's Day Off? The one the car-park attendants took for a gravity-defying joy ride, and later plunged backwards through a garage as the son of the unwitting owner tried to roll back its odometer to hide his indiscretion?
The movie's producers made a replica of the V12-powered classic rather than wreck a real one, which, these days, would be worth several million dollars to replace.
Now it's Ferrari's turn to make its modern-day replica of the car. This Pininfarina-inspired interpretation, we're told, will go on sale in Australia in the middle of next year.
As for the price? Expect somewhere around $400,000.
Under the hood of the latest addition to the Prancing Horse's stable, officially known as the Ferrari California, is an all-new 4.3-litre V8 engine with direct injection and a flat camshaft, mounted in an area that Ferrari describes as "mid-front", a change from the sports-car maker's traditional mid and front-mount layouts.
We're told that it's an entry-level 2+2 four-seater with a folding hard-top. The V8's 340 kW output, mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, is expected to push the California from 0-100 km/h in a flat 4.0 seconds.
Ferrari also says the new California gives more than a token nod to the environment. The new V8 not only cuts fuel use but pumps out less polluting carbon dioxide, officially rated about 310 g/km. The three-year-old 4.3-litre engine powering the marque's only other V8, the F430, produces 360 kW and 420 g/km of emissions.
Ferrari is throwing all it has at the California to woo buyers to what is expected to be a new entry-level model to the brand. Down the rear it gets a new multilink suspension system, while an F1-Trac traction control system reins in the horsepower. Brembo brakes featuring carbon-ceramic material discs will be fitted as standard.
First published by TheAge.com.au on May 23 2008
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