by Wallace Wyss –
Gooding calls it a “curated selection of fine automobiles”, referring to the Italian cars they are offering at their upcoming auction at Pebble Beach.
And indeed it is. We see Pininfarina, the coachbuilder represents lots at auctions, such as in this 275GTB but Zagato and Scaglietti not so often. Especially Scaglietti who usually only did race cars with rare exception.
1959 Ferrari 250 GT Series I Cabriolet
What’s interesting about this car, which they project will fetch from $5,000,000-$7,000,000, is that, being a 250 GT Series I Cabriolet (chassis 1475 GT) it precedes the sexier California Spyder.
Still, historically, its significance is that it is the last of 40 examples built. It might hurt it a bit that it doesn’t have the “bubble” closed headlamps of the Californias, this being one of only four examples built with the open headlamp treatment, and one of just two with tall vertical tail lights. You can’t ask for a better former owner to document it, in this case Ferrari collector and historian Hilary Raab Jr.who owned it for over three decades.
1956 Maserati A6G/54 Berlinetta
Gooding estimates $4,000,000-$5,000,00 which to me seems high, but then again not many of these had this bodywork. They say sixty of these chassis were built, but only 21 were bodied by the master coachbuilder Zagato. “First” and “Last” means a lot in the auction world and they say this is the last A6G/54 Zagato-bodied Berlinetta built. It will help that it was displayed at one of the most prestigious European concours, the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este in 2014, as well as the Museo Casa Enzo Ferrari museum in Modena, Italy.
1954 Ferrari 500 Mondial Series I
Gooding estimates it will go for anywhere from $3,000,000-$3,800,000. The 500 Mondial represents Ferrari’s turn from making cars just for factory drivers to Ferraris for privateer owner-drivers and though some new to the marque think all Ferraris were V-12s this one might surprise them with its two-liter Lampredi-designed 4-cylinder engine.
The engine was adapted from that in Ferrari’s 500 F2 car that won the 1952 and 1953 World Championships. The car has the distinction of victory in Africa, having taken first overall in the Ethiopian Grand Prix. The car emerged from deep slumber, having been stored from 1959-1980 until it went to DK Engineering for restoration.
Gooding will also have two other 275GTBs, one a twin cam, the other a four cam, a 1951 Ferrari 212 Inter Coupe and for those who want Ferrari looks but at not too big a discount, a 1953 Fiat 8V Berlinetta Elaborata (estimate: $1,400,000-$1,800,000).
This year the auction takes place on Friday August 18 and Saturday August 19, at Pebble Beach, presumably because with the Sunday event, so many potential attendees were tuckered out and skipped the auction, Sunday being the last day for events during Monterey Car Week.
Let us know what you think in the Comments.
THE AUTHOR: A former car collector himself, Wyss will be bringing his portraits in oil of classic Ferraris to his booth, Books & Art, to Concorso Italiano on Saturday, Aug. 19th.
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