A red 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO racer sold for $48.4 million on Saturday at the RM Sotheby’s Monterey held in California. Former Microsoft employee, Greg Whitten, originally purchased the vintage automobile in 2000. The Italian manufactured race car was estimated to fetch between $45 million and $60 million making it the most expensive classic car at auction.
Classic cars, which are still by some way the best performing asset class in Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index over a 10-year period, saw a number of striking auction results last year, with Bonhams dispatching a 1995 McLaren F1 for $15.6 million, whereas a 1959 Ferrari 250GT California Spider LWB made $18 million through RM Sotheby’s.
The 1956 Aston Martin DBR1, raced by legendary driver Stirling Moss, was the top seller back in 2017. It set a new record for a British car at the same time when it was auctioned by RM Sotheby’s for $22.5 million.
Although some have been suggesting for some time that the classic car market might fall significantly, Dietrich Hatlapa of analyst HAGI, which provides the KFLII car data, isn’t expecting anything quite so dramatic in 2018.
‘It’s hard to make predictions, but what I can be fairly confident about is that strong prices will be paid for the best cars by knowledgeable collectors this year.’ The results from the year’s first major classic-car auctions in Scotsdale, Arizona, seem to bear this out.
This updated article originally appeared in Issue 40 of Private Edition.
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