A 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO will be auctioned by RM Sothebys at the annual Concours d’Elegance motoring week event in Pebble Beach, California, on August 24-25. The road racing car, one of the only 36 250 GTOs produced by Ferrari between 1962 and 1964 has been valued at $45 million, but it has the potential to become the most valuable car ever to be offered for public sale. To do this it would have to beat the record of 70 million dollars paid by entrepreneur David MacNeil for another Ferrari 250 GTO.
The GTO was effectively the final evolution of Ferrari’s famous 250 model, which debuted in 1953 and ended with the last GTOs in 1964. Widely considered the most beautiful Ferrari ever designed, it was one of the most successful Ferrari racing cars, and now it has become the ultimate collector’s car. RM Sotheby’s car specialist Shelby Myers said in a statement that “The GTO was essentially the final true road racer, marking the end of an era when drivers really got their hands dirty. This was the last car that you could park in your garage, drive to the track, win the race, and then drive home.”
The 250 GTO that is up for auction, in the same year in which it was built, won the Italian National GT Championship and nine other races driven by its first owner. The current owner is American car collector and Numerix software company chairman Greg Whitten, who bought it in 2000 and raced it in vintage events. He did not declare how much he paid for it when he acquired it or the reasons that led him to auction it.
Ilona Catani Scarlett