Mr. Kedelbach;
My 250GTE is more like the second (blue) car; no hood strip, no fog lights, (The ones on that car are aftermarket, if you look very closely at the grill surround, you can see where the factory lights would be mounted.), and small trim rings on the headlights.
On my car, the side vents are chromed. At SN 2241GT, I seem to have the 37th one made. The dash is similar to the early GTs- painted in black crinkle-finish, with ancilliary gauges mounted lower. The later versions moved them up to make space for the optional (shudder) air conditioning.
The original color on my car was a darker blue metallic, but the color is now quite similar to the first car- a very light blue metallic.
The story of the rebodied Ferraris is quite interesting, it started with a Swiss firm making mock 250GTOs on the 250GTE frame. The company did such a good job, that at least one car was passed off as the real thing. Needless to say, Ferrari was not amused.
The owner of the company was murdered, and his stock of cars disappeared. Other companies have sprung up over the years to make mock Ferraris. Most of them have failed, but _none_ of them have made the foolish mistake of trying to make another GTO.
(The California Spyder that went flying in "Ferris Bueller" was a poor American V8 repro.)
At times, I have looked into moving up to something like a 365GT or a 400i, but I have resisted. There is something purer about the Colombo 3L V12 series of cars. I wouldn't mind a 250 Lusso...
Just before I bought the Ferrari, I had a Citroen SM. I nearly bought an XKE instead. The XKE was going for $3500. I paid $5k for the SM; it was in _much_ better condition. (I could have gotten a 250GTE for about the same amount of money.) Then the car market went crazy. I sold the SM for $6500 and bought the GTE for $12K.
Ah, to be young again, with a freshly restored Ferrari... (BTW, girls weren't the _least_ bit interested in 18 year old Ferrari coupes...)
