A 1962-Ferrari 250 GTO fetched the second highest price ever for a car at auction.
The supercar was auctioned in New York on Monday for $51.7 million (almost R1 billion), Sotheby’s announced. The bright red racing car has been in the possession of an American collector for the past 38 years.
A Mercedes 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe was auctioned in 2022 for €135 million (more than R2.6 billion at today’s exchange rate).
Sotheby’s expected the Ferrari to fetch at least $60 million.
The legendary Scuderia racing car, chassis 3765, has a four-liter engine that delivers 390 horsepower.
According to Sotheby’s, at the time the Ferrari finished second in a 1,000 km race on the Nürburgring in Germany and it was driven in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race before it had to be withdrawn due to engine problems.
The car was later raced in Italy and Sicily before being sold and exported to the USA in the late 1960s.
The 250 GTO was restored and refurbished several times over the years and had several American owners before it came into the possession of a collector from Ohio in 1985 and he auctioned it off on Monday.
