Ferrari 288 GTO, Black

Under its paint the 288 GTO was less conventional than its shape suggests. Only the doors were steel. Most of the body panels were moulded glass fibre, the bonnet was Kevlar, and the roof combined Kevlar with carbon fibre, on a car meant to be the road-going basis for a Group B racer. Ferrari went further with the Evoluzione, a more extreme development car of which six were built, with about 650 hp and a weight of around 940 kg. The Group B series it was built for was cancelled, so it never raced, but much of what Ferrari learned from it went into the F40, the car that followed.

Black is a colour Ferrari never put on a 288 GTO when new, every one leaving the factory in Rosso Corsa, and it gives this model a harder look. The black grille band and bumpers merge into the body, so the eye goes to the bright details instead: the polished five-spoke wheels, the prancing horse badges and the four driving lamps set into the nose. The slanted brake-cooling slots and the flag-style mirrors are modelled, and the cabin is black too, with pleated seat centres. The tan leather base with white stitching makes a warm contrast, and its plaque, shaped like the GTO's nose with four lamps, marks this car as one of 49.