Take a look at the sale results after any big classic car auction and you can guarantee there’ll be at least a couple of 1960s Ferraris at the top of the list like the 250 GT SWB Berlinetta having just changed hands for $5 or $10 million, maybe more.
But there are a bunch of mostly less well known Ferraris from that same decade that you don’t need to be a billionaire to buy. Okay, being a millionaire might help; these are not cars that you can pick up for the price of a new Toyota GR86, though go back 20 years and some of them were nearly that cheap.
Relative to their more famous sisters however, these Ferraris are like Craigslist bargains costing one tenth as much as a 250 GT California Spider or 275 GTB, never mind classic community deities like the 250 LM and 250 GTO. According to Hagerty Insurance’s valuation tool, most of the cars we’re talking about are available for under $500k in good, but not show-winning, condition, and a few might be available for half that.
So if you can afford a new supercar like the Ferrari 296 GTS or SF90 Stradale, you’re good for one of these old timers, too. And one of them could even be yours for under $100k, which is roughly the price of a Porsche Cayman S with a smattering of options.
1958-1960 Ferrari 250 GT Pinin Farina $560,000-600,000
Related: The Ferrari 250 GTO Is Now Worth More Than Its Weight In Gold
The car that helped turn Ferrari from a boutique car builder to something more serious looks as uptight as a Victorian butler compared to the sexy GTs and supercars that came later. But the formal-looking GT PF is still a handsome car, and underneath the Pinin Farina body (it didn’t become one word until 1961) is broadly the same basic chassis and V12 engine found in cars like the more famous 250 GTO and California Spider.
Which is why many GT cars were butchered and re-bodied to look like those poster cars when prices were on the floor in the 1980s and 1990s. That 250 name, incidentally, refers to the 250 cc capacity of each of the 3.0-liter motor’s 12 cylinders.
1959-1963 Ferrari 250 GT/E $360,000-410,000
The 250 GT/E was Ferrari’s first proper crack at a series production car with four seats. Pininfarina’s fastback body sat atop a stretched 250 chassis and was powered by the same 237 hp (240 PS) Colombo V12 as the two-seat 250 PF.
Enzo himself was a fan of this classic GT, which auction house Girardo notes wasn’t launched at a motor show, but at Le Mans, where it served as course car, proving its sporting credentials. You might say the GT/E is where the Purosangue story begins.
1963 Ferrari 330 America $450,000-500,000
As early as the beginning of the 1950s Ferrari had been applying the America name to cars destined mostly for the U.S. and fitted with Lampredi-designed V12 engines that were bigger than the Columbo V12 found in European models.
But by the time the 330 America arrived in 1963, essentially as a 250 GT/E with a bigger mill, Ferrari had stretched the older Colombo design to 4.0 liters and retired the Lampredi V12. The newly-enlarged Colombo motor made 296 hp (300 PS), which was better able to shift the weight of the two-plus-two body. Only 50 were built, meaning they’re almost as rare as a 250 GTO, but rather more affordable.
1964-67 Ferrari 330 GT 2+2 $200,000-270,000
Related: GTO Engineering’s Perfect Ferrari California Spyder Costs $15M Less Than A ‘Real’ One
The 330 America’s successor, the 330 GT 2+2 got the same 296 hp (300 PS) 4.0-liter V12 and practical two-plus-two seating, but moved the game on with improved brakes and suspension, and, on later cars, power steering, air conditioning and a five-speed transmission.
Those later 1965-on cars also reverted to a more conventional dual headlight design, though there’s something appealingly menacing about the supposedly uglier quad headlights on the series one cars.
1966-68 Ferrari 330 GTC $525,000-600,000
The two-seat 330 GTC slotted into Ferrari’s late-1960s range between the 275 GTB (great grandfather to today’s 812 Superfast, and $2m+ today) and the more comfort-oriented 330 GT 2+2.
At up to three times the price of its 2+2 brother it looks expensive, considering it shares the same engine and has similar styling. But mechanically, it’s much closer to the sporty 275, featuring a rear-mounted gearbox for better weight distribution and independent suspension at both ends.
1967-71 Ferrari 365 GT 2+2 $185,000-210,000
Welcome to one of the biggest bargains in the classic Ferrari world, the 365 GT 2+2. These beautifully long, low, luxurious GTs were popular when new, with around 800 sold, but they don’t get many column inches these days, and judging by the crazy sub-$250k prices, they’re not in high demand.
Ferrari stretched the now-20-year-old Columbo V12 to 4.4-liters and 316 hp (320 PS), giving strong performance, while air conditioning, power steering and optional air conditioning made sure it had the comfort angle equally well covered.
1968-73 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona $500k-1 million
So far we’ve been dealing with cars that might be unfamiliar to all but serious Ferrari buffs, here’s one you’ll definitely recognize. The 365 GTB/4, to give it its proper name, or Daytona, to give it the one everyone knows it by, is one of Ferrari’s most famous classics, yet prices are still well under $1m for all but the rare factory Spider and top-condition alloy-bodied cars.
The Daytona, which earned its nickname after Ferrari’s 1-2-3 win at the 1967 Daytona 24 Hours with its 330 P4 and 412 P racers, was the firms’s last big front-engined, two-seat V12 sports car until the 550 Maranello more than 20 years later. Its 4.4-liter V12 generated 347 hp (352 PS), giving it a top speed of 174 mph (280 km/h).
1967-74 Ferrari Dino 206/246 GT $400,000-600,000
Maranello’s first production mid-engined road car might not have worn its maker’s badges, but it was all Ferrari. The 206 GT arrived first, launching in 1967 with an alloy body and a fairly puny 178 hp (180 PS) 2.0-liter V6. That was replaced in 1969 by the 246 GT, which looks almost identical but switched to a slightly longer steel body and got an additional 14 hp (15 PS) to nix the weight gain.
Fiat Dino Spider $100,000-150,000
A Fiat? Okay, we’ve cheated a little here, but maybe not as much as you think. Both the handsome, Bertone-designed Fiat Dino Coupe and Pininfarina’s voluptuous Dino Spider were powered bye the same 2.0-liter (and later 2.4-liter) V6 found in Ferrari’s Dino.
The connection goes deeper than that though, because from 1969 Ferrari actually built the beautiful Spiders at its factory in Maranello. A Ferrari-engined, Ferrari-built, Pinfirarini-designed two-seat 1960s roadster for as little as $100k? The other Dino looks like a bargain to us.
Images: Mecum, Girardo & Co, RM Sotheby’s
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