Ferrari GTO and the Meaning of Envy

…and imagine hand-​​painting your 250 California Spider to look like a jeep!

What may seem madness from the perspective of 2010 was all part of the gilded youth of a certain part of Southern California at the end of the sixties, as this home movie from Film Maker Stephen Mitchell’s blog documents in fascin­ating if wobbly beauty.

The great thing about Mr Mitchell is that he doesn’t even try to hide his smugness when he casually mentions that he and his movie star mates were out in the Laurel Canyon driving a clutch of Modena’s most beautiful at the age when most of us were doing donuts in the Somerfield carpark in our dad’s Ford Escort.

But look, just look at those GTOs. The design is so unadul­terated. So pure is the form of its beauty that it actually makes us physically ache. Mitchell bought one for a snap at the end of the sixties, and sold it to Ralph Lauren for a cool Million. Now it’s probably worth around fifteen million.

Enjoy the pathetic, fleeting schaden­freude induced by those figures.

Never mind. I have great memories of dad’s old Ford Escort.