- This Ferrari 250 two-plus-two was built in 1962 specifically to catch high-speed gangsters in Rome.
- It inspired a spectacular 1970s Italian chase movie and was driven by a now legendary cop, Armandino Spatafora.
- Today, it's the only private car allowed to wear blue lights and siren in Italy, and Girardo & Co in Milan is selling it.
Italy's highway police have used several supercars as high-speed interceptors, up to and including a Huracán LP610-4 that Lamborghini loaned to the Polizia Stradale back in 2014. But now the original police supercar is up for sale—and it’s a Ferrari 250.
Granted, in the pantheon of Ferrari 250s a 2+2 GTE variant occupies a lowly position in the hierarchy, worth only a small fraction of the eight figures a 250GTO commands. But the fact that this Ferrari is the only privately owned vehicle in Italy allowed to be driven while wearing police livery, and with functioning lights and siren, means it will have a truly unique appeal to wealthy collectors.
Unlike that Huracán, the 250 didn't become a police car for publicity reasons. In the early 1960s, Rome's police force was struggling to catch fleeing criminals, who were often driving stolen high-powered sports cars capable of outrunning the Alfa Romeo 1900 sedans the police used as interceptors.
Embarrassed by the inability of his officers to apprehend these automotive gangsters, Roman police chief Vicari organized a meeting with his Squadra Mobile—the high-speed pursuit team—in early 1962. He asked them what was required to beat the criminals at their own game. One of the senior officers present, Armando "Armandino" Spatafora, replied, "It would take a Ferrari."
The rest, rapidly, became history, with Vicari gaining permission from Italian president Giovanni Gronchi to purchase two Ferrari 250GTEs for police work. The plan got off to a poor start when the first of these, chassis number 3363, was written off during testing before it had entered duty in 1962. This car was the second, chassis number 3999, delivered to Rome’s Squadra Mobile in 1963 and assigned to driver Armando "Armandino" Spatafora.
Both car and Spatafora soon acquired celebrity status after a series of spectacular high-speed chases, including one that involved chasing a Citroën down the Spanish Steps next to the Trinità dei Monti church in Rome, a story too good to be subjected to excessive journalistic analysis or fact checking.
Spatafora's exploits later became the inspiration for a low-budget action movie called Poliziotto Sprint, which included a sequence with a 250GTE driving down the steps. (It is in the action-packed trailer here.)
The Ferrari remained in front-line service until 1968, at which point it was transferred to the easier duties of making emergency blood deliveries to Naples at high speeds. (The official release on the car’s sale claimed it could cover the 140 miles between the two cities in just 50 minutes.) It was retired in 1972 and sold at a government surplus auction to a businessman, Alberto Capelli, who kept it for more than 40 years, driving it extensively in Europe and even attending the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in 2016. It also spent time in the Museum of Police Vehicles in Rome, in what we can only presume must have been pride of place.
Now it is for sale, being offered by Girardo & Co in Milan. While there is no published price, interested and deep-pocketed parties can find out just how much it costs by contacting the dealer directly.