Long before it became a fashion for automakers to offer supercars to police forces around the world as part of highly publicized partnerships, Rome’s police department was using a 12-cylinder Ferrari 250 GTE.
The story of the car seems taken from a movie. At the beginning of the 1960s, crime in Rome was kept under control by the diligent police force of the city. To reward the officers, Italy’s president convinced Enzo Ferrari to supply two 1962 250 GTEs to Rome’s mobile squad.
Powered by a 3.0-liter V12 engine, the 250 GTE had 237 horsepower, enough to keep outlaws worried. Only one of the two cars survives to this day, after having served for six years in the force, driven by a policeman that impressed Enzo Ferrari so much that he offered him a race seat.
The officer refused and continued to chase criminals around Rome in the Pininfarina-designed Ferrari 250 GTE. He once famously went after a bad guy with the black Ferrari down Rome’s famous Spanish Steps. For the entire story you’ll have to watch the wonderful video by Petrolicious.
By Dan Mihalascu
VIDEO