On Thursday, around 5:30 pm PST, someone is going to buy a 1962 Ferrari GTO. They'll likely spend more than $52 million, which will make it the most expensive car ever sold at auction.
The car is being sold by Bonhams at The Quail in Monterey, California. Why does the auction house expect to rake in so much cash? Because the GTO is one of the most beautiful, accomplished, and generally awesome race cars ever. Only 39 were made, so ownership is reserved for all-star collectors like Ralph Lauren and Walmart heir Robson Walton. And the specific GTO that's up for grabs is especially noteworthy.
In February 1962, Ferarri unveiled the first 250 GTO, or Gran Tursimo Omologato, the Italian term for a grand touring car approved for competition. The 250 dominated the world racing circuits in for years, kicking the asses of even feared competitors like the Jaguar E-Type. It won the 1964 Tour de France road race and competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Its reign ended in 1965, when new regulations brought in tougher competition and ended its cascade of victories. It was one of the greatest race cars from an exceptionally glorious era of racing.
Even if you ignore the car’s place in auto racing history, its mechanical prowess makes it exceptionally desirable. It moved its svelte 1,980 pounds of curb weight with a 300 horsepower V12 engine. If you wonder why, with tens of millions of dollars at your disposal for an automobile, you would buy something that was fast five decades ago instead of a way more powerful McLaren or Bugatti Veyron, understand that cars like the GTO are special because they give a thrill of speed only achievable through a spartan, antiquated interface.
This Ferrari is a bare-bones, purpose-built competition car with minimum civility. It has a big steering wheel, analog gauges, and none of the traction control, launch control, or sound-proofing that makes modern machines so civilized---or dull. Few people know what it's like to drive a 250 GTO (think of the insurance alone), but we applaud the nut jobs who race them in revival events like the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Consider the 250 GTO a rebuke to a future where cars drive themselves and humans just sit back and watch.
The body is a gorgeous balance of aerodynamics and Italian aesthetic intelligence that never gets old. The body of each 250 was shaped placing aluminum over a wood frame and beating it into shape, so each is handmade and a bit different. The styling came from the era before wind tunnels and rear spoilers. Like many of its peers on the track, the GTO has big headlights (for nighttime endurance racing), a large radiator grill for cooling, and a long hood to house the big engine, all marks of a proper grand touring vehicle. It looks fast while standing still. It's got sprezzatura; it never looks like it’s trying too hard. Oh, and rosso corsa, that red paint.
So why is the GTO that's crossing the block this week poised to break records? First, consider its history. After it rolled off the assembly line on September 11, 1962, it was delivered to French racing driver Jo Schelsser, who, with French ski champion Henri Oreiller, took second place in the Tour de France automobile race that year.
To what we assume were audible gasps, the car crashed during a race just south of Paris in 1962. Ferrari immediately took it back and repaired it, handing it over to driver Paolo Colombo in 1963. After a moderately successful season of mountain climb events in Italy, Colombo sold the car to Ernesto Prinoth in 1964.
In 1965, Fabrizio Violati, the young scion of a wealthy Roman family with a fortune made from mineral water, bought the car for 2.5 million Lire (about $33,000 in 2014 currency). It has stayed in his family ever since. Steady ownership has kept the car in shape, and Bonhams says it is "more a maintained car than a restored car." That original quality will drive the price up.
The current record for most expensive car ever sold at auction is $33 million, set last year by the 1954 Formula One Mercedes-Benz. The most expensive auction car behind that? A 1957 Ferrari 250 that sold for $18.5 million. Rich guys just love the prancing horse, and when one this special is up for grabs, they're willing to spend the crash to bring it home.
