Ferrari 288 GTO

📸: Photo courtesy Talacrest.com

Shown here sporting an ultrarare white paint over blue leather interior, the 288 GTO basically fulfilled the performance promise that the much beloved 308/328 series was unable to keep. Originally developed to homologate a race car for the FIA's Group B series, but the cars never made it to the track before the FIA shut down the class after a series of tragedies. Only 272 of these beauties were made, and they were all for the road.

📸: Photo courtesy Bthinx.com

The 288 GTO mounted it's 2.8 liter V8 longitudinally (as opposed to the transverse mounting used on the 308/328 models), and featured twin-turbos that spooled up a total of 400 horsepower. This gave it a top speed of 189 mph, and the distinction of being the first production car to exceed 300 kph (186 mph).

📸: Photo courtesy GTSpirit.com

Designed by Leonardo Fioravanti at Pininfarina, the 288 GTO pays homage to the original 250 GTO with those brake vents on the rear quarter panel. It certainly makes the most of the 308 design brief, with much wider fenders and a very purposeful front end. And with all that power, it was well deserving of the GTO name.