$55 million for a Ferrari

A half century-old Ferrari, a 250 GTO, has been sold for US$52 million – that’s A$55.13 million at today’s exchange rate and a record not only for a racing car but any car.

It’s almost 50 per cent more than the previous record – US$35 million 18 months ago for a slightly older 250 GTO, an apple-green version made for Stirling Moss.

The latest sale of one of the V12s in the Day-Glo red that is synonymous with Ferrari was a private transaction and the seller, American collector Paul Pappalardo, would not comment on it. However, financial news service Bloomberg reported that three specialist traders independently had confirmed the purchase and the price. The buyer is not known.

The 1963 GTO is chassis number 5111, which won the GT category of the Tour de France Automobile that year, driven by Frenchman Jean Guichet, who won the Le Mans 24-Hour the following year with Targa Florio legend Nino Vaccarella in a Ferrari 275P.

Only 39 250 GTOs were built and the owners now include Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, the financier behind the Tommy Hilfiger brand Lawrence Stroll, Rob Walton of American retail giant Wal-Mart and banker Peter Sachs of Goldman Sachs.

“Today the GTO is considered the top car to own,” California-based dealer Don Williams of Blackhawk Collection told Bloomberg. “It’s like the Mona Lisa – it has a mystique.”

London-based Ferrari dealer Joe Macari recalled that the 250 GTO was created in 1962 to win Le Mans but failed.

“I don’t understand the appeal of them. They’re not very beautiful … (but) it’s a cult car. If you’re a billionaire you feel you have to have one,” Macari said.

Dietrich Hatlapa, founder of the HAGI F index of private and public sales of rare Ferraris, said prices of the rarest cars from the famed Italian stable had risen an average of 15 per cent for more than 30 years – and, despite the delicate global economy, 54.5 per cent in the past year.

The latest 250 GTO sale has dwarfed the US$29.6 million paid at a Bonhoms auction during this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed in Britain for a 1954 Mercedes W196 Formula One car that was raced by Argentinean five-time world champion Juan-Manuel Fangio.

Pappalardo – of Greenwich, Connecticut – bought the 250 GTO in 1974. It had raced 10 times from 1963 until ’65 and, after restoration, Pappalardo ran it at several classic events in the 1990s.

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