June 11, 1986 – Ferris Bueller’s Day Off premiers, Ferrari steals the show

The American cult classic film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

premiered on this day in 1986, featuring a 1961 Ferrari in a starring role. Written and directed by John Hughes, the comedy follows high school senior Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick) as he pretends to be sick to get out of going to school. He uses his time to hangout in downtown Chicago with his girlfriend Sloane Peterson (Mia Sara) and best friend Cameron Frye (Alan Ruck). The stakes of playing hooky are raised immensely when Ferris convinces Cameron to “borrow” his father’s 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California to cruise the city.

The teenage joy ride ends when… well, if you haven’t seen it, this article won’t spoil it. While the film featured three replicas, tight shots of the car were of a real California, of which only 100 were made. Of the three replicas, one is at Planet Hollywood in Cancun, Mexico and the other two are currently unaccounted for. Hughes has described the film, which grossed $70.1 million off of a $5.8 million budget, as his love letter to Chicago. It was one of the most successful films of the year and in 2014 was selected for preservation by the Library of Congress after being deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”