NEW YORK: A 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO sports car sold for $51.7 million in New York on Monday, making it the second most expensive car ever sold at auction, Sotheby’s said.
The bright red roadster has been owned by an American collector for the last 38 years, and its auction price was only surpassed by the Mercedes 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe, which sold for 135 million euros in 2022, the auction house said. That’s $144 million at today’s exchange rate.
The 250 GTO went up for sale Monday evening after several minutes of bidding at the auction house, but for less than the $60 million the auction house’s luxury car subsidiary, RM Sotheby’s, was expecting.
Sotheby’s did not disclose the identity of the winning bidder.
Picasso, Monet and Ferrari – monster-of-the-eye sales at New York auction houses
The legendary Scuderia sports car from 1962 (chassis 3765, four-liter engine, developing 390 horsepower) took second place in the legendary 24 Hours of Le, as well as a 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) race on the German Nürburgring circuit. Mans, where the team had to withdraw due to engine failure, according to RM Sotheby’s.
After several years of competition in mainland Italy and Sicily, the car was sold and exported to the USA in the late 1960s.
The restored and modified 250 GTO changed American owners several times before falling into the hands of a “private collector” from Ohio in 1985, who sold it on Monday.
“This stunning GTO offers even more touring and vintage racing enjoyment to its next caretaker or is on display at major concours d’elegance and brand meetings around the world,” Sotheby’s said.
The Mercedes 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe, sold for 135 million euros in 2022, was one of only two examples of the sports car. A spokesman for RM Sotheby’s said the car was sold at a secret auction at the German manufacturer’s museum in Stuttgart and was the most expensive car ever sold at auction or privately worldwide. AFP.
New York auction houses Sotheby’s and Christie’s this week completed their autumn season sales of artworks that have not been affected by difficult times and have generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue since November 7.
Christie’s, which sold Claude Monet’s ‘Le bassin aux nymphéas’ (‘The Water Lily Pond’) for $74 million on Thursday and three paintings by Paul Cezanne for $53 million, reported a total of $864 million late Monday.
Rival Sotheby’s, which closed its sale in New York on Thursday, sold Pablo Picasso’s ‘Femme à la montre’ (‘Woman with a Clock’) for $139 million on Wednesday, the second highest amount ever achieved by the Spanish master, who died at the age of 50. Years ago.
Sotheby’s followed this sale on Monday with a Cezanne – ‘Peupliers au bord de l’Epte, temps couvert’ (“Poplars on the banks of Epte, closed”) for $30.7 million to an Asian collector.
Picasso’s painting ‘Woman with a Clock’ sold for 139 million dollars at auction in New York
The 1892 model ‘Le Moulin de Limetz’ (‘The Mill at Limetz’), which has been in the same American family for 130 years, was sold for 25.6 million dollars.
And finally, American painter Mark Rothko broke the record for a work on paper: ‘Untitled’ was purchased for $23.8 million by an anonymous bidder in the room.
The market is driven by China and Asia and shows no signs of slowing down, according to Sotheby’s, despite the tense international situation.
Picasso’s masterpiece will find a buyer for 120 million dollars at the auction in November: Sotheby’s
“No matter what happens in the financial markets, a car of this caliber is a collectible, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Michael Caimano of RM Sotheby’s. AFP Before the car sale, we compared Ferrari to a work of art that could be “touched, felt and heard”.
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