by Mike –
This car was at the Gooding auction in Monterey in August 2011. The estimate was $900,000 – $1,300,000 and the car sold for $1,540,000!
Gooding’s description:
“Desirable Alloy-Bodied 275 GTB
Believed to Have Less than 60,000 Miles from New
Marvelous, Untouched Condition
Beautifully Preserved Paint, Interior and Engine Bay
Long-Term Ownership
Prime Candidate for Preservation Display
Documented by Ferrari Historian Marcel Massini
One of the Most Exciting 275 GTB Discoveries in Years”
What they call “Marvelous, Untouched Condition” I call very bad shape.
Here is a close up of the “Beautifully Preserved Paint”.
There are two questions that come to my mind:
1) Will the new owner restore this car?
2) Restored or not will this prove to be a good investment?
The price guides show the following values for this car:
Hagerty Price Guide (No. 15, May-Aug 2011)
Condition 4: (they do not have a condition 5 in the book) – $850,000
Sports Car Market (mid-year 2011)
Low: $837,500
These price estimates are very close – I wonder if the new owner knows something that the price guide folks don’t know since the actual price paid is nearly twice the price guide numbers. The price paid is higher than the Condition 1 price!
I just thought of a third question:
3) Is an unrestored, original car that is in very rough condition worth more than a car that has been restored correctly?
I wrote about other Ferraris at the Monterey auctions here.
Please share your comments with me and other readers.
Click on the images for a larger view.
Seeing this "beater" Ferrari at Pebble Beach brought forth a lot of contradictory thoughts, I have to say! It was cool seeing one that wasn't over-done and immaculate but at the same time…
Stephen,
I am glad that you commented. What is you opinion or answer to my question 3?
3) Is an unrestored, original car that is in very rough condition worth more than a car that has been restored correctly?
Interesting question and it is almost like asking if one prefers a blonde or redhead–it rather depends upon the mood of the moment.
I have friends whose great joy is in the restoring of a car and therefore they would prefer the original, but would they place a higher value on it? Given the way your question is phrased–"restored correctly"–makes me say that the restored car has a greater value. Any car in very rough condition represents an expensive challenge regardless of how it will be used.
Here in Europe we increasingly go for unrestored original condition. You can only restore a car once. After that it´s not original anymore….
Restored correctly is very difficult to define..
Gabriele,
I know that European and US standards on restoration are different.
I plan to write more on the subject of original vs restored in the near future.
I think that the classic car market in general has become an investor playground. As such, it has become somewhat unfocused due to various tastes. As mentioned some prefer unrestored “barn” finds such as the 275 GTB above while others would like to have a fully functional completely restored car. My feelings lie somewhere in-between. There was a 1963 Alfa Romeo Giulia Spider featured in Sports & Exotic Car magazine that was a barn find but the new owner was able to bring the car back to life without any major restorations. For example, aside from small panel refinish, the paint was color sanded and buffed to bring back original shine, exhaust was removed, cleaned and reinstalled, etc., etc. When it came time to sell, the owner was asking top top $$ and received a lot of flack for it. I, for one, saw the value in this car and agreed that the price was not out of order as this was indeed a rare Giulia. I would applaud if the new owner of this GTB could do the same. As the video said, the car can be original only once!
I believe the reason the unrestored 275 gtb sold for so much more was because it was an alloy bodied car as opposed to steel bodied car. Therefore being much more rare.