AUCTION TRACKER FERRARI F50

FOLLOWING ON from the sublime Ferrari 288 GTO and F40 halo cars, the F50 made its debut at the 1995 Geneva motor show with looks that divided opinion, but powered by an F1-derived V12 engine that ticked all the right boxes: aural nirvana, 512bhp, 0-62mph in 3.8sec, and a claimed 202mph top speed.

Chassis 99999 best illustrates the model’s dramatic upward trajectory at auction over the past ten years, after a period that had seen little growth in values since launch. Starting life as the production-spec prototype Ferrari unveiled to the public in Geneva, it went to its first owner, the legendary Jacques Swaters, after its test and show duties came to an end. RM Sotheby’s hammered it away twice. Showing less than 1000 miles, it fetched $742,500 at Arizona in 2011, and $1,677,500 two years later at Monterey with minimal additional mileage. Offered from the

Tony Shooshani Collection by Gooding & Co in 2016 (pictured), it broke through the $2million level, setting a new benchmark at $2,400,000. With the principal auction activity centring on the American market, it’s the 55 US-spec cars that have tended to achieve the highest prices in recent years. In August 2021, RM Sotheby’s sold chassis 104262 for $3,965,000 (£3.2m).

However, this year Artcurial achieved a new record €4,161,600 (c$4.5m/£3.5m) with a singleowner Monegasque car, which confirmed that the global F50 market is incredibly hot right now. Tom Hartley Jnr explains why it’s become so popular: ‘When they were launched, Ferrari fans felt that they were too much of a poseur’s car after the F40. Yet all analogue cars have become much more desirable since the hybrid supercars were released, and the F50 was Ferrari’s last manual supercar.’

He continues: ‘With respect, the F50’s chassis is also far superior to an F40’s and only 349 were built, in comparison to more than 1300 of the F40. Don’t forget that it shares the same engine type as the 333SP and the 1990 641 Grand Prix car! But it’s very important to buy one with unbroken provenance, no accident damage, and original paint.’

Glenmarch is the largest free-to-access online resource for classic and collector car auction markets. Visit www.glenmarch.com to keep up to date.