by Mike –
This is the most unusual car ad I have ever seen – a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO Series I for sale for $41,000,000 – Fixed Price!
1962 Ferrari 250 GTO
The dealer is:
Ed Classics
Dunsborough House
SEATON
DURHAM
SR7 0QB
United Kingdom
Do you think this is real? It used to be that these cars changed hands very rarely and when they did it was very quiet – until recently that is.
But advertising a Ferrari 250 GTO in public? That probably has not been done in a few decades unless I missed one.
Maybe I could get a test drive?
I wrote about a Ferrari 250 GTO advertisement that was in the December 1963 issue of Road & Track.
My thanks to Mike Clarke for pointing this out.
Let us know what you think about this classic Ferrari 250 GTO for sale in the Comments.
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December 1963 Road & Track
This is amazing that a Ferrari GTO is listed for sale! What is going on?
And only $41 million – these GTOs are looking like a bargain.
Mike,
First I’d like to thank you for a clarification comment to left on one of my “pins” regarding the “Filipinetti” Cobra Daytona Coupe being led by Bizzarrini 5300 GT. I must confess I was not familiar the Bizzarrini, I am now. You opened my eyes, what a great car.
Mike, it’s late on the east coast but I did want to touch base with you quickly regarding the “$41 million” 250 GTO. I’m sure you’ve already done some preliminary research. Here’s what I know from two hours of research this evening. I recognized the image immediately when I received your email which I believe to took directly from Ed Classics Dunsborough House “finecars.cc” site. The original of that particular photograph was shot by Michael Furman (but you probably already knew that). The image is of the Ferrari 250 GTO, chassis number 3987, that is in Ralph Lauren’s collection. Michael shot all of the cars that were taking part in Lauren’s international museum tour for the limited edition book “The Art of the Automobile” that was being sold at the exhibitions. That particular image was grossly bastardized by a Photoshop novice. Take a look at Michael’s original and you will immediately notice three glaring errors. First a very poor and amateurish attempt was made to add a reflection. Second the latch pin on the left rear corner of the hood is clearly missing. And third, to the left of the driver’s front tire there is a light gray area defining what I believe is steering linkage. It would not be possible for the area to have that much contrast. Just follow, from left to right, the horizontal axis across the fauxed background, the contrast of light area to the dark background would be nonexistent. I’ve done comparative Photoshop overlay studies proving my initial observations. And I also discovered that whoever butchered the image changed the horizontal to vertical ratio, the car is longer than it should be by approximately 2%. Dunsborough House notes the location of the Ferrari as the UK. Lauren and his collection live about 20 minutes from me, and I’m pretty sure the 250 is with him. Don’t you think if it was his GTO for sale his name would add to the provenance and the price? Do you have any contacts to verify the chassis number of the Ferrari being sold?
I have the comparative images I can send you, would you be agreeable to communicate via conventional email in place of “FeedBurner”?
Frank
Frank – please email images to me at mike@mycarquest.com.
The Lauren GTO No. 3987 was formerly owned by Stephen Mitchell a My Car Quest reader. Perhaps Stephen could opine on the photo?
It seems unlikely to me that if Ralph Lauren wanted to sell one of his cars that he would take this public approach.
I was the one who maintained the ralph lauren car collection in Montauk, Long Island NY, true serial # we got togheter with Stepehn Mitchell who came & took an
interview about that particular car thar he used to own
Now I am surprised that Ralph Lauren would sell that car
that was on display 2 summers ago at the Paris Louvre
musée des Arts décoratifs..very difficult to judge the authenticity of this car by just a picture…
I now suspect this was not a real ad. It was listed on Anamera but now has been removed.
There is, however, another GTO ad which uses the same photo from a dealer in Prague that says, “Access to 250GTO series 1 and series II in USA and Europe only serious offers details uppon request”. The dealer is:
Diamond cars
interntional Broker
150 00 Prague
Czech Republic
Mobile 00420777805799
This ad is here: http://www.anamera.com/en/detail/car/199754/index.html?no_cache=1&ret=63
This seems weird, what are they trying to do? I doubt a GTO owner would sell their car like this.
Great advertising for Diamond Cars
It may not be great advertising if reasonable people do not believe that they have a GTO for sale.
ed classics is still advertising cars this time a 288 gto and a la ferrari dodgy photos as per usual