Revealed: 2009 Ferrari California

Hmmmm...

I think I like

i was just lucky i guess

besides, you never wake up for nothing.

Good catch Adonis. I agree with SVTKAR3 - I saw this and went immediately to post before I saw yours. You must be the early bird!

Going to move it to the front page shortly.

The car looks great. I'd love to see the interior.

My only criticism is, I would think that they'd use a numeric name of some kind for the car instead of just California.

So now Ferrari finally has a competitor for the 911/Aston Martin Vantage crowd, eh?

A front engine Ferrari? Seems a little odd. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it drives like a dream. But that's a big break from tradition, isn't it?

Michael_S said:

A front engine Ferrari? Seems a little odd. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it drives like a dream. But that's a big break from tradition, isn't it?

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The 600 Scaglietti and 599 Fiorano are both front engined. The F430 is the only mid-engined Ferrari currently in the lineup.

The direct predecessors to those vehicles also followed that vein - which is to say the true "sports car" of the group was mid-engined and the "grand tourers" were front engined V12s.

What is a departure from tradition is the fact that the California is a front engined V8 model - all previous (or close to all) front-engined Ferraris were V12 equipped.

So a bit of a break in tradition for the Prancing Horse.

Andonis said:

besides, you never wake up for nothing.

Click to expand...

This is true. :yup:

nadepalma said:

Good catch Adonis. I agree with SVTKAR3 - I saw this and went immediately to post before I saw yours. You must be the early bird!

Going to move it to the front page shortly.

The car looks great. I'd love to see the interior.

My only criticism is, I would think that they'd use a numeric name of some kind for the car instead of just California.

So now Ferrari finally has a competitor for the 911/Aston Martin Vantage crowd, eh?

Click to expand...

Thanks - i didnt really wake up for this, i just had a bad sleep.
i might be alone with this, but i still wish i saw this in a Maserati garment. As it was originally a Maserati.

i agree with you, some numbers would be nice. than just a plain California name tag.

I have a sudden urge to become a valet parking attendant in Chicago...

I am guessing there is a pretty angry meeting in the Corvette design team office this morning. That is going to be a tough one to match. I would probably rank that as one of the hottest cars I have ever seen. Probably a bargain at $200,000 over the sticker price of (guessing) $250,000.

i want one.

Why do I get the feeling I am looking at a G6 dash, only with Nav and softer materials?

it's pretty sweet, and the name California is awesome. i like car names. the world was a better place when cars called Bel Air, DeVille, and Fairlane roamed the roads. a name like California fits this car.

I wonder if they can put a similar interior in the Vette.


This might be my favorite Ferrari. The front end looks like a Maseratti.

DiRF said:

I have a sudden urge to become a valet parking attendant in Chicago...

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Remember, you can't take the miles off by throwing it in reverse!

Andonis said:

Thanks - i didnt really wake up for this, i just had a bad sleep.
i might be alone with this, but i still wish i saw this in a Maserati garment. As it was originally a Maserati.

i agree with you, some numbers would be nice. than just a plain California name tag.

Click to expand...

Bad night sleep? I hear that. I just found out that I have sleep apnea and it stinks. I've always got headaches and feel tired. Can't wait for my sleep study -can't get here soon enough.

I would love to see this in Maser drag as well. In fact, it would make a great product to slot below the GranTurismo coupe. I wonder if we could eventually find it serving the Trident brand as well as Alfa at some point?

Yeah, the original 250 GT California was nice -- would be equally nice to see "430 GT California" or something like that make an appearance. Just having "California" doesn't seem to jive with the rest of Ferrari's history.

I've never liked Ferarris as I saw them as cartoonish hyperbole, but I REALLY like this car. They did an excellent job with the sculpting of the sides of the body. Looks great from all angles! Thanks for posting this.

nadepalma said:

The 600 Scaglietti and 599 Fiorano are both front engined. The F430 is the only mid-engined Ferrari currently in the lineup.

The direct predecessors to those vehicles also followed that vein - which is to say the true "sports car" of the group was mid-engined and the "grand tourers" were front engined V12s.

What is a departure from tradition is the fact that the California is a front engined V8 model - all previous (or close to all) front-engined Ferraris were V12 equipped.

So a bit of a break in tradition for the Prancing Horse.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the correction.

Now, 460 horsepower is enough that I wouldn't lose sleep over a V8.

How much?