Ferrari 250 GTO Offered for Sale - Record Price?

[jtdoyleiv]

Can you say world record price??

RM Auctions is offering a 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO via private treaty sale, not their regular auction route. A price is not listed of course, but considering there were rumors that a GTO traded last year for $25 million, you gotta wonder what this will bring.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, no matter what is happening with the economy.

Ferrari 250 GTO Offered For Sale - RM Auctions

[pwd72s]

Opportunity?????

[HardDrive]

I simply don't get the attraction. For $300-400k you could have one built that would be identical in apperance, yet technically superior in every way.

I guess there are certain folks that fixate on having the original, but honestly I would only buy a car like that to donate it to a museum. Given its rarity, it really is a piece of art, and belongs in the public domain. Just my humble opinion.

[MotoSook]

Rgruppe much?

I simply don't get the attraction. For $300-400k you could have one built that would be identical in apperance, yet technically superior in every way.



I guess there are certain folks that fixate on having the original, but honestly I would only buy a car like that to donate it to a museum. Given its rarity, it really is a piece of art, and belongs in the public domain. Just my humble opinion.

[GG Allin]

Viewing Ferrari 250 GTO SN 4675 - Ferrari Life

Re bodied at some point?

[pwd72s]

Originally Posted by mbrouder

Viewing Ferrari 250 GTO SN 4675 - Ferrari Life

Re bodied at some point?

Please...refer to this as "chassis replacement"...

[Heel n Toe]

Somebody is desperate to do some serious partying before the Klingons get here.

[DanielDudley]

Originally Posted by Heel n Toe

Somebody is desperate to do some serious partying before the Klingons get here.

Maybe you are wiser than you think.

[Tervuren]

Originally Posted by mbrouder

Viewing Ferrari 250 GTO SN 4675 - Ferrari Life

Re bodied at some point?

A lot of owners(today) get their cars out on the track, those that do, often re body the car and store the original in case of hard contact. GTO's in the past where re bodied either due to wrecks, or just trying to stay on top the aerodynamic game, they where race cars after all.

[grudk]

Originally Posted by HardDrive

I simply don't get the attraction. For $300-400k you could have one built that would be identical in apperance, yet technically superior in every way.

I guess there are certain folks that fixate on having the original, but honestly I would only buy a car like that to donate it to a museum. Given its rarity, it really is a piece of art, and belongs in the public domain. Just my humble opinion.

I agree, and it's always important to note the 'original' is subject to interpretation. The difference between the 'original' and a 'replica' may be little more than a paper trail and few bits of metal...

25M buys a lot of paper and metal, or beanie babies if that's your 'passion.' Then again, if I had a few hundred million about, this might be an entertaining way to put it to use.

Regardless, I hope that the chap that buys this one puts it (or his replica) out on the track for all to enjoy...

[jyl]

Slightly tangential, in the mid-80s I worked with a guy who was really into cars. He daily drove a Ferrari 308. He had been considering either that or a Ferrari Daytona, but chose the 308 because it was $20K less (like, $45K instead of $65K or something like that) and more practical (dunno why). 4 years later, Daytonas were over $1MM and 308s were, well, still 308s. I stopped teasing him about it, it was too cruel. Of course, 5 years after that Daytonas had fallen 75% from their peak.

[GG Allin]

A guy in my neighborhood worked for a guy in Chicago who bought a 250 GTO in the 80's for under $300K. That price at the time seemed silly.

[David]

I remember one sitting on a Houston exotic car dealer's floor in the early 80's. It was neat, but just another 60's sports car.

[tabs]

Originally Posted by mbrouder

A guy in my neighborhood worked for a guy in Chicago who bought a 250 GTO in the 80's for under $300K. That price at the time seemed silly.

A guy I knew from the auctions in LA bought a 57 Tessarossa for 4K, and coulda bought the 250 GTO for 18K back when he graduated HS in 74...He turned the Rossa for $250K and bought a 5000 sq ft Tudor in Hancock Park in LA in the late 80's...with the dinero...last I heard he had bougtht a Tiffany Floor lamp for $250K....

[alwaysflat6s]

Yea. A long time ago.. but not that long ago... old man's rant. [ranting can be fun]

These were used up race cars. No one, except die hard enthusiasts, cared. Almost ALL Ferraris were, in the words of Enzo Ferrari "An ENGINE". They did have pretty neat engines... but their bodies were total crap, their paint was indifferent to really bad, their clutches were made of cardboard, their brakes.... Ferrari was one of the last to adapt dis brakes. BUT they WENT and sounded glorious. Declaring that a Ferrari was an engine [actually, I think Enzo insisted it was a V12 engine], nicely bypassed their otherwise casual build quality. l know that ..certain.. of the cars, like Super Americas, were beautifully put together, but this was not reflective of most Ferraris of this vintage and certainly not any of the race cars.

Recently the GTO Owner's Club met for one of their rare meetings in Napa Valley. They also ran at Sears Point [Please..dont' use that damn corporate name for a good historic race track folks!]. Alot of the guys that can afford them love them for what they are. I don't think there is one single car.. and who cares.. that hasn't either been severly pranged or restored so that it no longer has much to do with it's original build quality. Again, who cares? If you can afford it and enjoy the history of these cars and want to use it. So, you roll it into a ball. As long as you are in one piece you send it out and have it all made good. That costs a tiny fraction of the value of the car. So what? OH< it has been re-bodied. yea. So, go buy another example and try to find an "original" one. Have you ever noticed that when someone with a genuine "original" car shows up at a meet, rarely does it get noticed. Why? It is kinda beat and doesn't have half the eyeball as all the restored cars that make the public believe that back in the day these were built like Swiss watches by artisans who dearly cared that every detail of these cars was absolutely pristine. Yea... And the tooth fairy also!

So, all you smug Porsche owners... thinking "OUR cars aren't like these pieces of crap'.... I ask you, have you ever seen an actually racing Porsche from this period that hasn't been over-restored....like pretty much all of them? There aren't many of them. I know of one 550 that is genuinely original. But I have seen guys stare at it in disgust..and state "that material isn't ORIGNAL". And it is so old it is falling apart and so obviousl original I could cry. Bless the owner. He understands the relevance of it AS IT IS and leaves it alone except for mechanical upkeep and RACES the thing.. just like intended. But it shows the rough build quality of older Porsche race cars and they are nothing like all these glossy pristine "original" cars we see all over today. Totally restored ISN'T original. And over-restored.... most of them. I agree that the average street P-car was far better built..at least through the 70s. But, what was their point? Poor Ferry Porsche. He did his best to be nice but couldn't understand the American obsession with keeping their Porsche's pristine. He really did believe the cars were meant for driving. The only big-time P-car person with that attitude that I know of today is Alois Ruf. [Don't forget that he tried to buy the rights to producing the 911 when Porsche was in the process to ending the line.]

Last comment... "matching numbers". God, I despise this. It is fine if you are talking about a one-off street car that was exotic as could be when new. And intended as a "collector car". It didn't seem that long ago when it was only the Corvette guys who were obsessed with matching numbers. That was fine. Quaint. With the increased value of P-cars it has taken over our community also. If you got a 911S, well that is nice folks. They are not THAT rare or THAT special. They ARE really neat cars but making them nicer than they came from the Factory? Making them look like they were racer or rally cars? Then getting your shorts all tight about them having matching numbers at the same time? What is WRONG with all of you? DRIVE the things! The only good of all this is that .. someday... when the values really DO crash [just wait for the state of California to re-enact smog testing on early 911s and watch the flow of 911S cars leaving the state, along with their "Value". At some point when everyone realizes that a decent driver in a better minivan can run circles around a stock 911S, things WILL change. Well, that point was supposed to be.. that there will be this huge supply of #9 Porsches available to enthusiasts who can DRIVE them back down to a #3 again. BTW, all you pristine, numbers matching, originality fanatics: How many of you have ever driven one of these on ORIGINAL spec tires? People who claim that they handle so well.. are either ex- period rally driver or never really "drive" their old 911S cars. We are talking 165/80x15 for those of you that don't know.. and I doubt that today you buy a new tire as un-sticky as they were back in the day. Oversteer? Snap oversteer? Having almost killed myself over and over learning how to use these cars back then on wonderfully dangerous roads I can vouch for this. We learned to improve the cars and their silly handling but that has no relation to "original".

Drive 'em!
JR

[pwd72s]

Well said, JR! Back when these cars were new, we were just guys playing with cars...the idea they'd become highly prized collectables never entered our heads.

[GG Allin]

Originally Posted by alwaysflat6s

Yea. A long time ago.. but not that long ago... old man's rant. [ranting can be fun]

These were used up race cars. No one, except die hard enthusiasts, cared. Almost ALL Ferraris were, in the words of Enzo Ferrari "An ENGINE". They did have pretty neat engines... but their bodies were total crap, their paint ......

That's interesting. From what I hear about the guy in Chicago (I don't really want to drop a name here) I mentioned above, Enzo had a unique relationship with him. He had an appreciation for the guys foresight into the vintage race car value. To the point where said guy could pick up the phone directly to Enzo and make requests for cars, parts, what have you. He was at the time the only non authorized dealer that could do that. A lot of the authorized dealers didn't like it. This guy also started the vintage races at Road America, now known as the Kohler Intl. Challenge. Interesting man, but he's gone now.

[imcarthur]

JR:

Back story on the car on Fchat:

It is being sold by a Japanese collector named Matsuda.
It is the last of his GTO collection. He owned 4! "He sold 3673 SA (4-liter, LHD) in 2002, Serial No. 3445 GT (Series I, LHD) in 2003, and Serial No. 3505 GT (Series I, RHD) in 2005."
Expected price is $15M - $30M

Source: Fchat Post Quote above from post # 20.

Ian

[tchanson]

Originally Posted by mbrouder

From what I hear about the guy in Chicago (I don't really want to drop a name here) I mentioned above, Enzo had a unique relationship with him. A lot of the authorized dealers didn't like it. This guy also started the vintage races at Road America, now known as the Kohler Intl. Challenge. Interesting man, but he's gone now.

I don't think there's any name dropping involved, as you're clearly referring to the late Joe Marchetti.

I don't recall him having a 250 GTO, but its certainly possible with the long string of cars he ran through International Autos.

I do recall him owning the notable 250 GT "Breadvan" around that time, and that he would occasionally have it parked inside his restaurant, Como Inn.


Here's a photo of that car, circa 1984 or 1985, at Elkhart Lake:






Tim

[herr_oberst]

Why have I never seen that car? I think it's quite beautiful,and I would have remembered it!