You probably know it wasn't a real Ferrari, but there's more to the story. The legendary movie was released 40 years ago on June 11, 1986. It's a movie about a high-school kid who takes a day off from school. Today, 40 years after its release, the John Hughes classic still has a hold on the collective imagination. So does the red Ferrari that was central to the story.
Here are some fun facts you might not have known about the star car in Ferris Bueller's Day Off: If only Cameron's car hadn't been such a POS. Early in the film, we see Cameron (Alan Ruck) sitting in his own car, a 1982 Alfa Romeo Alfetta, debating whether to go pick up Ferris (Matthew Broderick). When it's time for them to collect Ferris's girlfriend, Sloane (Mia Sara), after springing her from school, Ferris argues the Alfetta wouldn't be convincing as something Sloane's dad would drive.
View Price on AmazonHe browbeats Cameron into using the Ferrari instead (although there are also a vintage MG and Mercedes in the garage), and they're off and running. Director John Hughes also wrote the screenplay, and in an earlier version, Cameron's dad's car was a black Porsche. Hughes later changed it to a Mercedes-AMG. It was producer Tom Jacobson who suggested a Ferrari 250 GT California Spider instead, since it could be built as a kit car (like the Ferrari Daytona in Miami Vice).
Mark Goyette and Neil Glassmoyer were the fabricators (later naming their firm Modena Design and Development), and most accounts say they built three cars for the film. The hero car, used for most driving scenes, was leased to the production. A stunt car with a reinforced frame was used for the parking attendant jump scene. And a shell car with no running gear is the one that went out the window.
Besides the three constructed cars, the filmmakers also rented a real California Spider, which was used in the close-ups where we first see the car parked in the garage, and Ferris starts mooning over it. The Ferrari's plate, NRVOUS, seems more appropriate for Cameron than for his dad, but a couple of the other plates reference previous Hughes films.
Source: caranddriver.com
