Classic Ferrari breaks world auction record

Classic cars are the stuff of dreams for many – the pinnacle of automotive grace and perfection much like a mechanical version of art. These moving works of art have captured the hearts of collectors, investors and racing enthusiasts for decades, with auction houses regularly recording multi-million dollar sales for the finest and rarest motorcars.

In establishing value and inspiring desirability it is not just the rarity and beauty of a car that is of primary importance, but also its proven provenance. In other words, only those models, whose histories are clearly catalogued, with full details of maintenance and refurbishment over the years, are eligible. Then, if a car has a racing pedigree, having won important races and been driven by legendary drivers or owned by famous personalities, its value starts to take on astronomical proportions.

When it comes to these criteria they don’t come much better than the 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa. A famous name revived in the popular 1980s model, the original Testa Rossa is a car with an almost legendary reputation that simply adds to its desirability. In fact, this sumptuous car managed to inspire such strong feelings that it recently broke the world auction record at the annual Ferrari Leggenda e Passione sale at Maranello, topping the bill at $12.4 million.

It is perhaps fitting that this Ferrari broke the record on the company’s hallowed ground of Maranello, where RM Auctions took care of an auction in which bidders outdid one another in an effort to secure this sumptuous black, open-top two-seater racing car that ranks among the most sought after – and now officially the most expensive – of all classic super cars.

Picture credit: Darin Schnabel

New post on at Monday, 29 June, 2009, 9:52 am and is archived in Classic cars, International News, Lifestyle, Luxury, Sport. Subscribe to answers with RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or make a trackback from your web.