A 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO luxury vehicle sold in New York for $51.7 million, becoming the second most expensive collector’s car ever sold at auction, Sotheby’s announced.
The vehicle was owned by an American collector for 38 years.
A Ferrari 250 GTO was sold in 2018, also at Sotheby’s, for $48 million. Almost three times more money was brought by the absolute record holder at the car auction sale, the Mercedes Benz 300 SLR coupe, which was sold for 135 million euros in May 2022.
The Ferrari 250 GTO from 1962 was sold last night after a few minutes of bidding in the hall, but still at a significantly lower price than the record Mercedes.
After several years of racing in Italy and Sicily, the Ferrari was sold and exported to the USA at the end of the 1960s.
Restored, modified, that 250 GTO changed hands several times in America and finally in 1985 ended up in the hands of a collector from Ohio who sold it yesterday.
Two auction houses in New York, Sotheby’s and Christie’s, are wrapping up this Sunday their fall season of art sales, which they say has never known a crisis, with a turnover of hundreds of millions of dollars.
The market is being led by China and Asia and shows no signs of slowing down despite the tense international environment, according to Sotheby’s.
“Whatever happens in the financial markets, a vehicle of this caliber is a collector’s item, a unique opportunity for a collector,” Sotheby’s Michael Caimano told AFP ahead of the sale, comparing the Ferrari to a work of art that can be “touched, smelled and hears”.
