If you’re searching for the ultimate holiday gift for the auto enthusiast in your life, and have a spare $55 million, this 1962 Ferrari may be just the ticket.
The asking price vastly exceeds the current world record auction price of $38.1 million paid in 2014 for a red version of the same 250 GTO model.
Yet according to John Collins, founder of U.K.-based Ferrari dealer Talacrest, which is selling the car, the less commonplace color of this model should make a difference to the price.
“The color’s striking, the blue with a white stripe – it’s original race colors and the race history on the car is really good,” he explained.
“Most of the GTOs are red – if you compare this with a red one it just stands out so much more,” he added.
The car’s track record even comes complete with it’s replete of highlights. This provenance is crucial in today’s slowing classic car market where increasingly discerning buyers expect the vehicles, their history and the accompanying documentation of it to be flawless.
As the second of only 39 250 GTOs ever produced, this car was the first of its type to compete in a race and succeeded in notching up 17 class podiums through competition in 27 races.
According to racing guidelines in place during the 1960s, a production run had to extend to at least 100 examples of a given model to be permitted to race in the Group 3 Grand Tour Car racing bracket, so really this car should not have even been allowed to compete.
Ferrari managed to elude these regulations by giving the impression of creating more cars than they actually did by using a non-sequential chassis numbering system– authorities assumed there was a car for each ascending number but in fact there were gaps between the numbers.
2016 has been a more challenging year for Ferrari – and indeed the classic car market in general. Data from the industry benchmark shows year-to-date growth to the end of November for classic Ferraris is up 3.33 percent. This is the slowest rate of growth for since 2009 and short of the 8.06 percent return for the broader HAGI Top classic car index year to date.
“For Ferrari that means that all models from the late 1970 onwards that have production numbers of 1,000 units or more are less likely to appreciate in value compared to the exceptionally rare, hand-made Ferraris of the 1950s to the early 1970s” according to Collins.
And looking ahead to 2017?
“Demand is set to continue like in 2016. The question is whether there is an element of oversupply as we have seen this year,” Hatlapa noted.
“Much depends on the macro-economic environment – for example, rising interest rates (or expectations) will play an important role. Buyers have become more selective and we expect that to continue in 2017. Focus will be on the highest quality cars in each group (very low mileage, top condition, full documented history) and low production numbers,” he explained.