PORTOFINO: THE BLOODLINE
A brief history of wind-in-the hair Ferraris
250 CALIFORNIA 1957
The car that inspired the 2008 California, which then started the Portoino line. US West Coast sales rep John von Neumann suggested an opentop version of the 250 GT Berlinetta would be well-suited to Californian sunshine. Coachbuilder Scaglietti built 106 examples of the V12 droptop, nine with aluminium bodies.
SUPERAMERICA 2005
Ferrari’s irst lirtation with a folding hardtop, the Superamerica was based on the 575M coupe, but swapped its metal roof for an electrochromic glass panel (the eye-watering cost of which nd haunts owners now) that electrically rotated through 180° to stow on the rear deck. Just 559 produced. Super cool.
365 GTS4 ‘DAYTONA’ 1969
The Portoino successfully ris on the 365 Daytona’s design, and it’s the Spider version that’s closest in spirit. Introduced at the 1969 Frankfurt motor show, just 122 were produced, but – unbelievably in hindsight – plenty of berlinettas had their roofs chopped in the ’80s as prices of original spiders shot up.
CALIFORNIA 2008
The Portoino predecessor’s many Ferrari irsts included the irst frontengined V8 and the irst folding metal hardtop. Designed to attract new customers, including more women, it was a more useable, less intimidating kind of Ferrari, but struggled to live up to the Prancing Horse driving experience.