This Ferrari could set a record at auction
A 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO raced by Phil Hill could become the most expensive car ever sold at auction when it crosses the block in August, with an estimated price tag above US$45 million.
The sale, arranged by Ontario-based RM Sotheby’s on behalf of car collector Greg Whitten, a former Microsoft software engineer, will mark only the third time a 250 GTO has been offered to the public in the past 18 years.
While the estimate may sound high, some experts presume the sale of chassis 3413 could well exceed that figure, buoyed in no small part by the price commanded by similar models.
A 1963 250 GTO recently traded hands in a private sale for an alleged $70 million.
Just 36 Ferrari 250 GTOs were built, all of which still exist today.
This specific car was the third assembled, and was used as a factory race car for Ferrari.
It was sold the next year to a well respected Ferrari customer, who racked up several victories with the machine.
Its third private owner had the car rebodied with a Series II body in 1964 — it was one of just four to receive the update — and sold it the next year.
It continued to change hands, and to race, but remarkably was never involved in an accident. It retains its original engine and gearbox.
Whitten, too, is known to have frequently raced and rallied the car since he picked it up in 2000 from former L’Oreal chairman Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones.
The car will cross the block at RM Sotheby’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance event in Monterey, Calif. on the August 24 weekend.
The current auction record also belongs to a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO, which auction house Bonhams sold in 2014 for US$38.1 million.