Auctions
Penny Riley
Sun Oct 06 2013 20:08:40 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
1963 Ferrari 250 GT0 sells for record $52 million.
Citing anonymous sources with knowledge of the sale, Bloomberg reports that the rare 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO was owned by noted Connecticut based car collector Paul Pappalardo, and likely sold to a Spanish collector.
If accurate, it was the highest known price ever paid for an automobile, smashing the record set by another Ferrari 250 GTO last year, which went for a reported $35 million.
When contacted by Bloomberg, Pappalardo had no comment.
The 250 GTO was a street legal racing car that cost less than $20,000 when new. Pappalardo purchased the car in 1974 for an unknown price and has entered it in several historic racing events over the years.
A total of 39 250 GTOs were built from 1962 to 1964 and just 36 are known to exist. No two are exactly the same.
Bavarian Joe
Sun Oct 06 2013 20:15:54 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
Racing Sam
Sun Oct 06 2013 20:30:39 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
I'd take a 250 SWB any day over the GTO.
Mon Oct 07 2013 15:06:19 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
Even in 1963 dollars $20k was pretty reasonable Ferrari money at about $151,000.
Tuner Joe
Mon Oct 07 2013 19:41:03 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
In the grand scheme of things, $52M ain't a lot for "high end art" if that's what this is called. Just take a look at the crap that sells at auction, blank canvases with a few scribbles.
Jason Rule
Mon Oct 07 2013 21:45:53 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
Well said, but the money folks are steering the ship and just a question of time before Astons and Maseratis pass eight figures. I agree with Racing Same, I'd take a 250 SWB any day!
Bavarian Joe
Sun Oct 06 2013 20:17:48 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
This example has tremendous race history.
Eric Killorin
Sun Oct 06 2013 20:58:13 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
check this related pin http://www.pixacar.com/pin/12110/
Mother Trucker
Mon Oct 07 2013 15:37:14 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
I hope that person also spends a significant amount of money on charity and helping others.
Chris Coios
Mon Oct 07 2013 21:15:07 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
This sale has been jumped on by all the Ferrari blogs to the point of nausea. The Ferrari chat world is now plagued by arm-chair bloggers who do not know anything and they treat the GTO like the second coming. The GTO is now a billionaires’ exclusive club car; some want to be in that club, known to own one - even if the dollars are nonsense. It has been taken from its primal purpose as an automobile, and the day will come when I think the value will collapse because of that. When it can’t be used, or it can’t even be taken to an event - never mind raced - it will become an artifact out of its element. Sculptural? Yes, to a technical degree and within the context of a fluid work in sheet-metal. You can argue automobiles as art all you want to me, and it will never be so. Yes, there is a technical aesthetic that one can admire, contemplate and appreciate. But would you compare the design of a fine vehicle’s lines to the other-worldly skill and vision of Michelangelo carving the Pietà from a single piece of stone, or a Rembrandt? Really? Ridiculous. No matter what anyone says, the general public is not going to repeatedly buy a ticket to see a static GTO in a museum. It is not very interesting that way. Once removed as a mobile machine, its value falls off the cliff, and there is the rub. When (and we are getting there) vintage cars are no longer traded, or enjoyed, or experienced as intended, in a real traditional way by the average enthusiast, the interest will wane, the events around these cars will start to decline. The GTO has been completely disconnected from its intrinsic value. There are many, many equally desirable Ferraris, yet none of them, including the GTO should be worth that kind of money.Add a comment