The Ferrari 250 GTO (1964-66) just might be the most exclusive, expensive, desired and coveted car ever made. Only thirty-nine were produced under Enzo Ferrari’s scrutinous eye, they rarely change hands, and they have lately been sold for figures that compare to the GDP of Tuvalu. This is the kind of car that requires a security check before you’re allowed anywhere even remotely close to where the car is parked, the kind of car that the owner builds a brand-new display case of a garage to house it in. You can’t deny that the car has an important place in history, but to most BangShifters, it’s simply wall art, because a photograph is as close as we’re ever going to get to one of these machines.

Funny thing, though. GTO stands for gran turismo omologato, “grand touring homologation”, and it’s the homologation part that strikes a chord with the car you are seeing here. You see, Ferrari was supposed to build 100 street-going versions of the GTO for homologation requirements for the FIA’s Group 3 Grand Touring Car class, but instead the company blatantly BS’d the FIA, purposefully skipping through serial numbers and shifting cars from location to location to “prove” that 100 cars had been built. Combine that with the desire for people who don’t have money laying about like dust to own one of these awesome machines, and soon the kit car manufacturers sat up, took notice, and started cranking out copies. One company, McBernie, is responsible for the kit you see here, and we have to admit, the look is as spot-on as a replica can be, down to the wire wheels with the three-spoke knockoffs. It’s only when you get inside that the Datsun Z-car roots start to shine through. Yes, that’s right…a 1978 Datsun 280Z can look pretty spiffy when it’s dressed up as a 250 GTO.

But does it go like a 250 GTO? The real deal pushed just over 1,900 pounds of Prancing Horse around with a 300 horsepower, 4.0L V-12…for the mid-Sixties, this was potent stuff. Maybe not in the blunt-force trauma fashion of American cars, but as light as it was and as nimble as it was, it was still something to behold. But unless the Ferrari engine was in place, an upgrade would surely be needed…you can rent an Impala with over 300 horsepower driving the front wheels.

While putting in a Coyote 5.0 would have been some poetic justice, instead you are looking at a GM LS engine, specifically a 1998 LS1 yanked from a Corvette and a six-speed manual from a fourth-generation Camaro, installed by Corvette City Denver in Colorado. It might lack in sophistication and beauty compared to the V-12, and there is no mistaking the exhaust note for the sound of the Ferrari mill breathing through six Weber carburetors, but for sheer grunt, it’s pretty hard to go wrong with it, the power is comparable, and mercifully, the builder chose to leave this one naturally aspirated. You know what can be done with a force-fed LS mill, but natural aspiration has plenty of enjoyable driving mannerisms and it isn’t too overkill for the car.

The best part about this fake Ferrari is the price tag. $31,900 is steep for a Datsun, even one with a Chevy V8 swap, but compared to what a real-deal 250 GTO costs, it isn’t even lint next to the pocket change by comparison. Besides, would you be scared to go raise hell in this machine? We wouldn’t. We’d act like the valet drivers in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and have an absolute blast…something very, very few Ferrari 250 GTO owners could ever possibly say.

eBay Link: 1978 Datsun 280Z with McBernie 250 GTO body kit