The Ferrari 250 GTO is coveted, desired, the benchmark for just about every automotive auction ever presented. They are curvy, graceful yet brutal, and are so expensive that even the most jaded collector or even investor will double-take upon hearing the value. Think about it: at $48 million dollars for the last auction car (a 1962 example that was sold at RM Sotheby’s during the 2018 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance), a 250 GTO is legitimately worth more than it’s own weight in gold, and by more than a little bit. The thirty-six examples have always been rarified air in the world of collector cars, but now, thanks to Ferrari and the ruling of a commercial tribunal in Bologna, they are now, under Italian law, “works of art” that are not to be imitated or duplicated in any way, shape or form.
As reported in The Telegraph, Ferrari had posted a petition to have the 250 GTO’s design and intellectual property rights officially recognized and the court ruled in favor of the company. What this means is that the replica market for 250 GTOs has ceased to exist…thanks to it’s protected status, Ferrari can now go after anyone who creates a replica of the 250 GTO from the moment the ruling was announced forward. No more faked 250 GTO bodies running V-12s raided from lesser Ferraris. Reportedly, a Modena-based company was preparing to start a line of replicas and Ferrari wanted to do more than send a cease-and-desist letter…or a Costa Nostra soldier to somebody’s house. 
