We can all relate to a birthday bash like this. We heard this week from Bill Warner, founder and chairman of the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, who informed us that the 2012 edition of the Florida gathering – that’s 2012, not this year’s – will salute the 50th anniversary of the Ferrari 250 GTO, a car that merits any superlative anyone cares to apply to it.

The GTO is perhaps the most fabled Ferrari ever produced, the last of the traditional big-bore sports racers from Maranello with a traditional front-mounted V-12. Built in ultra-small numbers, virtually all of them were raced by world-class drivers. Getting a bunch of them in one place is a big accomplishment, which explains why Brian Redman, who’s got a nodding familiarity with them, is grinning in the accompanying photo. Amelia Island for 2011 takes place March 11-13; visit www.ameliaconcours.org or call 904-636-0027 for more info.