Ferrari can do many things other car companies cannot, including building a machine that links past with present and that tries, however successfully, to be the fastest car to the market and back. A retractible hardtop. It’s the first Ferrari to sport a retractible hardtop, to rock a dual-clutch 7-speed transmission, and the first to wield a front-engine V8. It’s also got something called backseats, which seems like a cute concept for a Ferrari — a “2+” is the technical term. And as a result of this transmission it presents at least one last: The last Ferrari to offer a manual gearbox. Anyway who wants to deal with complaints from the backseat?
The California is a “2+,” a two-door with what we’ll all agree to call two ass-holders in what we’ll all agree to call the “backseat.” Which puts it in the class of “grand tourer,” a fine distinction for a car that really does look like it just wants to get on the road and stay there. Oh, and you’re of course invited to come along.
Its link to the past is right there in the name — the California is so named for the 250 GTs that awed a 20th-century world in the late ’50s. It ended its life by sailing out a window, a scene which horrified the Ferrari cognoscenti in audiences across America — who may still have unnecessary nightmares, as the car in that film was a replica. (The car in the movie was a replica, not an actual 250, because if it had been, Ferrari enthusiasts would have burned down Hollywood had Hughes actually destroyed one of the rare beauties.)
So the new series, which could just as easily have been called the “Utah” or the “Connecticut,” adopts the name of that 50-year-old classic and lays in all the new gadgetry of this, the modern era. Performance is turn-of-the-century, too: zero to 60 in a shade under four seconds, a top speed of 193 mph, and due to long hours in a wind tunnel, the most aerodynamic car Ferrari’s ever built.
But in the canon of Ferrari’s aggressively powerful cars, the California has already gotten a bit of a rep for being nice. It’s lovely, but not shockingly so. So while it’s a bit peculiar for a Ferrari, it’s still a breathtaking machine when compared to, gosh, anything with a backseat. Just make sure you call shotgun at least once. And while the front end brings to mind, say, a dignified Aston-Martin, the rear gets a lot of grief for being a bit too big.
But Ferrari was serious when it decided to build a car that could perform but could also fit a small child (say, the child of your mistress) in the back seat. A little something for everyone, it seems. Everyone who has $230,000 and a wish to take your best normal-sized friend and your best small friends for an exhilarating trip.
