by Wallace Wyss –
Road & Track theorized “the general market tension at the moment certainly doesn’t help.” They again mentioned the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe, which they previously sold for what they call “an Earth-shattering $144 million.”
It was almost impossible for RM Sotheby’s to top the sales price of the last 250GTO sold (rumored to be $72 million but since it was a private sale, we’ll never know). Their Ferrari GTO sold at their NYC art auction November 13, 2023 topped out at a little over $51 million with added fees, $8 million less than they predicted.
Road & Track said that “we’re sure the seller is more than happy however, considering they reportedly purchased the car for the equivalent of $1.4 million today’s money.” No a bad return for almost 30 years of preserving the car. Of course being a car magazine you have to take with a grain of salt their advice: “ultra-rare and significant Ferraris with race heritage are a decent investment.”
Ferrari 250 GTO Art by Wallace Wyss
It muddied the water a bit when the auctioneers called it a 250GTO/330LM instead of just calling it a 250GTO or a 330LM which it legitimately was at two different times in a long life. It was born as a factory race car.
Since it was the factory that installed a 330cc per cylinder 4.0 liter engine (just as Bonnie Prince Charlie morphed into being King Charles) it could be called that with that engine. A saving grace is that it earned a class win at the Nurburgring 1000 in 1962, and raced at the 24 Hours of Le Mans that same year but retired in hour six due to a overheated engine.
In May 1963, the car went back to the works for a 3.0-liter engine before being sold to private owner Pietro Ferraro. After more owners came and went, it had an Ohio-based owner in 1985 who hung onto it for almost three decades. It did surpass the sales price of the last GTO 250 RM Sotheby’s sold back in 2018 for $48,405,000 at their Monterey, California auction.
It might have been that auction where the new buyer roared off the stage in it, but this Nov. 13 auction took place in the middle of an art auction, where maybe cars couldn’t be started lest they besmirch some million dollar paintings. RM Sotheby’s spokeswoman, Katte Clendenning, said the art gallery venue was a good idea because “It is a great opportunity for art enthusiasts to experience the art of cars and we will be hosting an auction in December at Sotheby’s New York during Sotheby’s Luxury Week sales.”
Methinks it also opened the eyes of art collectors on how old cars can be an investment. I’m not saying art collectors have more money than car collectors, but they are a car market previously neglected.
Let us know what you think in the Comments.
THE AUTHOR Wallace Wyss is a fine artist who has painted the Ferrari 250 GTO (for information on availability write malibucarart@gmail.com)
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