Most expensive road car ever auctioned

[sjordan2]

A 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/NART spider. Sold this past weekend at the RM auction in Monterey for (fittingly) $27.5 million.

Other non-road cars have sold for more and private transactions have exceeded the $30 million mark, but this was through the bidding process.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/08/18/autos/pebble-beach-ferrari/index.html?hpt=hp_c3

[Ace-Garageguy]

Amazing to think that back in the '70s I was working on these things for people who actually DROVE them. Sure wish I'd had the prescience to realize they'd become insanely priced objets d'art in my lifetime.

[Harry P.]

Amazing to think that back in the '70s I was working on these things for people who actually DROVE them. Sure wish I'd had the prescience to realize they'd become insanely priced objets d'art in my lifetime.

Tell me about it. I should never have sold that van Gogh at last year's garage sale...

[Pete J.]

You really have to read the whole story behind this car. It is a ONE OWNER car. He bought it from Luigi Conetii and picked it up at the factory. It is a totally numbers matching car. Probably one of the few high end cars that I can actually see the value in.

Here is a video on RM's site. http://www.petrolicious.com/this-ferrari-275-gtb-4-s-spider-is-one-of-ten It is one of 10 made. One of the originals was destroyed when it was rear ended in LA. That car was owned and driven by Steve McQueen and was brand new at the time.

[LDO]

...One of the originals was destroyed when it was rear ended in LA. That car was owned and driven by Steve McQueen and was brand new at the time.

One of those red Italian things was destroyed?! Say it ain't so! :'(

[Maindrian Pace]

A few more facts:

•It was originally blue.

•It was a charity auction, and those go higher than regular schmuck auctions.

•1 million - the new 200K.

•Take that, Batmobile.

[LDO]

The "red Italian thing" was a line from Faye Dunaway in The Thomas Crown Affair with Steve McQueen.

[Bernard Kron]

When I saw this I was (only mildly) surprised. While these have always been relatively highly regarded and were intentionally rare, even at the time they were first made, it is, after all, a production Ferrari with a production body (even if it is a variant of which only 10 were made). But records are made to be broken and generally they are set at or near market peaks and are more a question of circumstance and opportunity, rather than any relative calculation on the part of potential buyers. Indeed. most record breakers, whether they are paintings, jewels, or automobiles, are "brand name" acquisitions far more often than they are truly exceptional rarities. Which begs the question of what would be the current auction price (charity or otherwise) of an all orginal, red, Ferrari GTO. Perhaps these can no longer trade in the open market...

Addendum:

It occured to me after I wrote this that the 275 GTB/NART spiders are far more rare than the 250 GTO, some 36 Series 1 GTOs having been produced, with an additional three Series 2 with the less recognizable body. Also, the NART spiders are distinctly more modern, civilized and drivable cars with open bodywork so one can be seen and appreciated in one's new multi million dollar acquisition. So, from this perspective it is perhaps especially well specified to attract record breaking bags of dough! By 1967 one-off carozzerria bodywork was becoming nearly extinct on expensive sportscars and it took special initiatives like Chinetti's to create exceptional rarities like this one for today's wealthy to pursue.

Edited August 19, 2013 by Bernard Kron

[o-man]

A few years ago I had the pleasure of meeting the original owner and seeing this car on a couple racetracks. Eddie was a super cool older man! Full of enthusiasm and genuinely a very nice person who had a passion for Ferraris. I was able to drive a couple of his cars while attempting to show him the racing line. It was sad to read of his passing a few years ago, and the video did bring a tear to my eye. I realize this car is a museum piece, but I hope the new owner will exercise it every now and again.

[Bernard Kron]

A few years ago I had the pleasure of meeting the original owner and seeing this car on a couple racetracks. Eddie was a super cool older man! Full of enthusiasm and genuinely a very nice person who had a passion for Ferraris. I was able to drive a couple of his cars while attempting to show him the racing line. It was sad to read of his passing a few years ago, and the video did bring a tear to my eye. I realize this car is a museum piece, but I hope the new owner will exercise it every now and again.

That's a nice reminiscense. The video does a good job of taking the edge off of the "holy cow" price and serves to remind us, as does your comment, that great cars can make emotional connections that transcend mere money. The record-breaking figure obscures the fact that the family did decide to donate the proceeds to the original owner's favorite charities.

[Ace-Garageguy]

I have mixed feelings about the whole collector car / high-end auction thing.

Back in the mid-70s I owned a small sports car shop in Buckhead (an Atlanta suburb), and I did a lot of work for a then-well-known classic car broker. I was tasked to drive a 250GT "Tour de France" from Buckhead to an auction at Perimeter Mall because it was such a ratty car, and no one else had the patience to coax its poorly synchronized carbs along the road. The poor thing had been tarted up by a previous owner with an Earl Schieb silver enamel paint job, with red and blue racing stripes. It had brakes on 2 wheels at best, cracked and dry-rotted vintage racing rubber, badly out-of-round wire wheels, oil leaks that filled the cockpit with fumes, a leaking fuel tank, etc. etc. No wonder the little car failed to bring its reserve of around $15,000 if I remember correctly. It was just an old, clapped out, slow race car, unloved and unwanted. But with enough patience and a delicate throttle foot, you could get it to smooth out...and when it came on the cams, there was no doubt it still had the heart of a thoroughbred. And still, nobody wanted it, the owner was tired of putting money into it and not getting an instant return, and I lost track of the car.

Fast forward to 2013. Just last week a similar car brought $9.46 MILLION.

I don't really understand.

Edited August 19, 2013 by Ace-Garageguy

[Harry P.]

You don't understand because there's no science or logic behind collector car prices. It can't be understood. The prices can fluctuate wildly with no real ties to reality. Same as the stock market... it's all based on emotion, not reality.

Remember just a couple of years ago when MOPARS were selling at sky-high prices? I'm talking six-figures. Those prices have dropped a lot in the past few years. A Superbird or Hemi cuda is just as rare and "collectible" today as it was in 2005, but their auction prices have dropped 25%-50% or more. Go figure...

[slusher]

. One of the originals was destroyed when it was rear ended in LA. That car was owned and driven by Steve McQueen and was brand new at the time.

lf l owned a car that Steve Mcqueen owned l would not be driving it around...

[sjordan2]

Depends on what car you're following. About 7 years ago, I started tracking the prices of the 1954-57 Mercedes 300 SL Gullwing and roadster. They have steadily climbed from about $450,000 to nearly a million in that time, most of them kept in good condition, if not concours.

[Bernard Kron]

I have mixed feelings about the whole collector car / high-end auction thing.

Back in the mid-70s I owned a small sports car shop in Buckhead (an Atlanta suburb), and I did a lot of work for a then-well-known classic car broker. I was tasked to drive a 250GT "Tour de France" from Buckhead to an auction at Perimeter Mall ... a ratty car ... with an Earl Schieb silver enamel paint job, with red and blue racing stripe ... brakes on 2 wheels at best, cracked and dry-rotted vintage racing rubber, badly out-of-round wire wheels, oil leaks that filled the cockpit with fumes, a leaking fuel tank, etc. etc. No wonder the little car failed to bring its reserve of around $15,000 if I remember correctly. It was just an old, clapped out, slow race car, unloved and unwanted. But with enough patience and a delicate throttle foot...when it came on the cams, there was no doubt it still had the heart of a thoroughbred. ... Just last week a similar car brought $9.46 MILLION.

I don't really understand.

Another lovely story... The TDF Ferraris are my own personal emotional touchstones so if I had the means I would find a way to spend stoopid money on one. Perhaps not quite that stoopid (although it's strictly a matter of proportion) but pretty stoopid. Seduction comes in many forms... even the ghost of Olivier Gendebien.

But you might recall that in the mid seventies we were in the jaws of an infllationary recession and business was bad after the boom that ended in '72. Only 10 years earlier a middle class home in a proper American suburb sold for 10K, about the price of a Rolls Royce, and your typical Ferrari went for around 8K. So that 15K minimum was already up there, And once we got past the oil crises we were off to the races once again, ending in the 80's collector car bubble. And now, through the power of compounding we are where we are as we finish up the current mini-boom...

Now where's that stoopid money I left lying around?...

[Dragline]

My only rub with Ferrari was a tune up on a Mondial in the late 80's. After conferring with Viti Brothers Mercedes ace mechanic Gessepe it was decided i could do the work and parts were ordered. I took 3 days to do it and test drove it around town a bit before opening it up on Rte 6 N to Cape Cod. While the Mondial is possibly the lowest Ferrari ever made I had a ball doing the job [ Prestige for my garage] and the ensuing test drive was beyond words that still bring my fur up a little. I also learned what the heart of Ferrari truly is. It is a visceral throaty roar and a gearbox that only a man can appreciate.

Yes, it was red.

Bob

[Harry P.]

Yes, it was red.

If it's not red, it's not a Ferrari!

(In my opinion only, of course...)

[Pete J.]

If it's not red, it's not a Ferrari!

(In my opinion only, of course...)

Or fly yellow!

AKA Gallo Modena

Edited August 19, 2013 by Pete J.

[ToyLvr]

quote "Harry P." post "You don't understand because there's no science or logic behind collector car prices. It can't be understood. The prices can fluctuate wildly with no real ties to reality. Same as the stock market... it's all based on emotion, not reality."

Same could be said for the price of old model kits on the Internet auction sites.......

[Dragline]

The mid 80's Testarossa gets a bad break from the Ferrari cognescenti. But the white one in Miami Vice is a very beautiful car in my eyes. I like it better white than red.

If i recall correctly it was a drug bust car that was originally black and then painted white for Crockett and Tubbs. A black Testarossa doesn't work for me somehow.

But that's me.

Bob

Edited August 19, 2013 by Dragline

[Greg Myers]

[ChrisBcritter]

^^^No wonder the price of bread keeps going up.

If you know your TV movies, you may remember the 1971 ABC Movie of the Week Love Hate Love. There's a black 275 GTB that gets pretty banged up by the end. I did the IMCDb entry for it; here's the car's page: http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_374263-Ferrari-275-GTB-1965.html

Now it would be worth more than it cost to make the movie...

[ToyLvr]

Christopher:

Check out the 1971 movie "A New Leaf" with Walter Matthau. His expensive Ferrari spends most of it's time on the hook of a tow truck...

[Joe Handley]

lf l owned a car that Steve Mcqueen owned l would not be driving it around...

That original post kinda made it sound like it was still owned by McQueen at the time it was totalled.

[Greg Myers]

Let's add an unrestored Cobra to the mix : http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2013/08/20/unrestored-shelby-cobra-sells-for-2-07-million/?refer=news