It couldn’t be more exclusive – it was not for nothing that the auction house RM Sotheby’s had touted the Ferrari 330 LM/250 GTO by Scaglietti from 1962 as “The One” for months and wooed potential buyers for the rare vehicle. Quite rightly so: depending on your point of view, there are only two or three models of this model. And a 250 GTO was worth record prices to buyers at previous auctions, even without the special story of “The One”. Now the car went under the hammer for $51.7 million – and RM Sotheby’s reports the “most expensive Ferrari ever sold at auction.” However, there are two admissions in this report that one would probably not have expected.
“The One” had the potential to become the most expensive Ferrari in the world. But he wasn’t. In 2018, a 1963 GTO sold privately for $70 million. In 2013, a vehicle changed hands for $52 million. Both cars are therefore above the special model now sold. This may have surprised even RM Sotheby’s, as at the time of the announcement they were expecting “at least 60 million US dollars”.
The estimate was not unrealistic given its history. “The One” is the only factory-owned Series I GTO driven by Scuderia Ferrari. He drove at Le Mans and on the Nürburgring, and was later used in hill climbs.
In 1985, after the car had been in the USA for almost 20 years, it was meticulously restored. To this day, all documents, correspondence, racing reports from the time and magazine articles mentioning the Ferrari with chassis number 3765 have been preserved.
Marcel Massini, the world’s leading expert on Ferrari collectibles, also predicted back in 2018 that “we would see GTO sales in excess of $100 million in the next few years.” The Ferrari 330 LM/250 GTO by Scaglietti from 1962 probably had the best chance of doing this.
Since the car not only fell short of the minimum expectations, but also fell well short of the 100 million mark, it can by no means be called the most expensive car in the world. Because in order to beat the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé, which will be sold in 2022, more than 135 million euros have to be put on the table – target missed.
This only leaves the car with the title of “most expensive Ferrari ever sold at auction” – and the buyer a very rare piece of automotive history, which, despite the missed record, is still a very special vehicle.
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