Sure times are tough...but......15 million

NotaSuv
NotaSuv Posts: 3,849
edited February 2009 in The Clubhouse
for this stunning beauty seems some what reasonable :D


Feb. 16 (Bloomberg) -- A Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa racing car is expected to set a record auction price of $15 million when it comes up for sale in the Italian city of Maranello in May, said the auto auctioneers RM Auctions.

The Testa Rossa is “the most significant and desirable Ferrari to be offered on the world’s auction stage,” said RM Auctions, which will be holding its May 17 “Ferrari Leggenda e Passione” sale in association with Sotheby’s.

The record price for any car at auction was set in May last year when the U.K. television and radio host Chris Evans paid 7 million euros ($10.9 million) with fees for a black 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spyder. The sale at Maranello was also run by RM Auctions in association with Sotheby’s. The Ferrari had formerly been owned by the movie actor James Coburn.

“It’s more valuable than the California Spyder,” RM Auctions specialist Peter Wallman said. “It’s more desirable. Far fewer of them were made, this example has a race provenance and it’s widely recognized as one of the most beautiful Ferrari racing cars ever built. Lots of people have heard of the Testa Rossa. It’s legendary.”

Ferrari produced the 250 Testa Rossa from 1957 to 1958. Only 22 were made. This particular example dates from 1957 and is presented in its “race-correct” black livery with red nose. It was last raced in 1963, RM said in an e-mailed statement.

Scaglietti Design

The 250 Testa Rossa was created by Carrozzeria Scaglietti, an Italian automobile design and coachbuilding company located near the Ferrari factory in Maranello, outside Modena. The car’s distinctive “pontoon fenders” were inspired by Formula 1 racers.

“It’s a brave thing to try to break the auction record in today’s uncertain market,” Simon Kidston, a Geneva-based classic-car adviser, said in a telephone interview. “Normally cars of this value are traded through discreet private sales.”

Another example of the 170 mph Testa Rossa was sold privately for $15 million in 2007, Kidston said. The most desirable examples competed in the Le Mans 24-hour endurance race, he said.

“It’s just about the last open-topped racing car that you can drive on the road,” Kidston said. “As open Ferraris go, it’s about as good as it gets.”
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