It’s not easy to make a memorable commercial for a garage-door opener, but LiftMaster found a way.
The company on Monday released a 30-second ad spoofing the 1980s cult-classic movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” If you’re not familiar, the plot centers around the titular high schooler (played by Matthew Broderick) skipping school. At one point, Bueller and friend Cameron Frye (played by Alan Ruck) borrow Frye’s father’s 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder (a replica was used in the movie).
LiftMaster recreated that scene, complete with the glass-walled garage, but swapping the Ferrari replica for a 1966 Jaguar E-Type. Ruck even makes an appearance as the father, showing off the new LiftMaster Secure View garage-door opener’s noteworthy feature—a built-in camera that will let you know if anyone is “borrowing” your car.
One of three cars used to film “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” one crossed the block at a Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale, Arizona, earlier this year, netting $396,000. Built by Modena Design & Development, the car is officially known as a Modena Spyder California.
It may look reasonably close to a real Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder, but the replica has fiberglass bodywork and a steel-tube frame. Under the hood sits a 427-cubic-inch V-8 making about 500 horsepower, which is admittedly more than the 275 hp produced by the 3.0-liter V-12 in the genuine article.
In addition to the car sold at Barrett-Jackson earlier this year—chassis number GTC001—a second car is known to exist. The third car was sacrificed for a scene in which the “Ferrari” takes a nose dive out of the garage. Thankfully, the Jaguar E-Type remains safe in the LiftMaster commercial.