Neglected movie cars: The Ferrari 400i from "Rain Man"
02/19/2022
Not only attentive readers of our site know that a 1949 Buick Roadmaster Convertible Sedan played the leading role in the movie "Rain Man". The beige Buick is now so firmly anchored in pop culture that it is virtually emblematic of Barry Levinson's film. However, the car that brought Tom Cruise, alias Charlie Babbitt, to the famous convertible is long forgotten. Admittedly, the plain Ferrari 400i in inconspicuous Grigio Scuro Metallizzato is not really an attention magnet.
And yet it is seen surprisingly often in the first quarter of the film. After all, Charlie earns his money by importing and selling European luxury sports cars and naturally has to have an appropriate company car for this. Even though the car was already five years old when the film was shot in 1988, it is a surprisingly good choice for the role: not too flashy like a Lamborghini Countach, but also not too ordinary like a Mercedes-Benz 560 SEL. Although they could hardly be more different, the Buick and the Ferrari have at least one thing in common: the automatic transmission. Even if it does seem a little out of place in the sporty 400i.
