Before the F40, before the Enzo, and the LaFerrari, there was the 288 GTO. Four decades ahead of the era-defining F80, Ferrari would surprise the world and confound its rivals with a proto-hypercar unlike any other. More than just an extreme performance machine or object of desire, the 288 GTO was a statement of automotive superiority built to compete in one of the most maniacal racing series ever conceived.

It was born of Ferrari’s desire to compete in the hotly contested and wildly popular Group B of the FIA’s World Rally Championship, which required at least 200 production cars be built alongside the competition cars. Unfortunately, due to Group B’s sheer danger to drivers and spectators alike, the series was cancelled at short notice, leaving Ferrari with a fully developed and homologated car, but no series in which to compete. Though its racing prospects ceased, the public’s appetite for such a car persisted. All told, less than 300 cars were built in what turned out to be the lowest production of any Ferrari hypercar. Indeed, this was the first limited-production offering from the Italian automaker since the 1966 365 California.

Rarely does Ferrari bestow its hallowed GTO moniker on any of its models. Those so blessed are not just powerful but purposeful, exhibiting the highest order of track-focused engineering. Clothed in lightweight bodywork of aluminum and Kevlar composite, the 288 GTO’s race-bred 2.8-liter V-8 engine with twin IHI turbochargers is capable of producing 400 horsepower and 366 pound-feet of torque. This was truly monstrous output for the era, making it the fastest road car ever produced at the time of its 1984 unveiling, with a top speed of 189 mph. Its acceleration was equally impressive, reaching 60 mph from a standstill in just 4.8 seconds and 100 mph in 10.2 seconds. Like its successors in later years, the 288 GTO was the fastest and most attractive car money could buy, making its lucky owner the envy of enthusiasts worldwide.

Completed by the factory in February of 1985, chassis number 54789 offered here was the 99th production 288 GTO built according to the accompanying report from marque specialist Marcel Massini. Finished in Rosso Corsa—as all production 288 GTOs were—with a full Nero interior, the car was fitted with the desirable options of air conditioning and power windows. It found its first home in Viersen, Germany, with Hans Breidenbroich, the owner of a furniture manufacturing company. Amazingly, Breidenbroich never took delivery of the car; the 288 GTO remained stored at Auto-Becker, the official Ferrari dealership in Düsseldorf through which he had acquired it. The car was seen at Modena Motorsport Ltd. of Düsseldorf-Langenfeld in March of 1991 wearing French license plates and showing a mere 150 kilometers on its odometer.

By 1995, the 288 GTO had returned to Germany and was owned by Pierre Fandel, a well-known German Ferrari collector and glass manufacturer residing in Bitburg, Germany. In 2000, Eckhard Bluhm, a real estate magnate living in Cologne, Germany, purchased the car for his impressive Ferrari collection, sitting alongside his F40, F50, Enzo, and a multi-win F300 Formula 1 car raced by Michael Schumacher, amongst other significant cars.

The 288 GTO remained largely on static display in Bluhm’s collection but was extremely well preserved by the time it was sold in 2021, showing only 1,470 kilometers (~913 miles), at which point it was exported to the United States, where it remains today. Shortly after importation, the car received a full mechanical overhaul by official dealer Ferrari of Central Florida, including a full engine service with redecked cylinder heads, new timing belts, gaskets, and bearings, brake service, clutch and gearbox service, cooling system service, and new tires to bring it back to full running and driving condition. An inspection undertaken in the summer of 2025 shows that the car remains in wonderful condition throughout, in keeping with the car’s incredibly low mileage, showing just under 1,541 kilometers (~958 miles) on its odometer at the time of cataloguing. The car has also recently been Red Book certified by Ferrari Classiche in February 2026 and is confirmed to retain all of its ‘numbers-matching’ components.

Of the incredibly desirable, limited-edition hypercars Ferrari has produced, the 288 GTO will always reign supreme as the first of the breed and far rarer than its successors. The vast majority of 288 GTOs have been well used by their original and subsequent owners, which makes a true low-mileage 288 GTO such as this increasingly challenging—if not impossible—to find. With likely less than six documented sub-1,000-mile examples remaining, and boasting well-documented European and US ownership, this 288 GTO is certainly among the very best examples to ever come to market—an ideal, crowning complement to the astute enthusiast’s collection of top Ferrari hypercars.