Ferraris, Ferraris and more Ferraris! The Pebble Beach auction lineups feature a wide range of all colors stallion. While some of the Italian beasts may be trading hands for tens of millions, there are a few of these collectibles that could be yours for as little as $75,000! Will any of the cars in the lots below go for record prices? What do you think? Read the article below for your opinion. Only time will tell…
Special to The Globe and Mail – Classic Cars
Published
Recognizing that investment-quality Ferraris have been a better bet than gold bullion for some time now – a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO sold for an auction record $38,115,000 last year – every major sale during Pebble Beach concours week features the Italian thoroughbreds.
And a 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 from Georgetown, Ont., ranks among the most desirable at seven auctions in the Monterey area – although no Ferrari is likely to equal last year’s GTO.
Gooding and Company named the GTB/4 its star car while promoting 11 cars labelled the Peter Klutt Collection, capitalizing on the Canadian’s international stature as host of the television show Dream Car Garage. A 1967 Ferrari Dino 206 SP, for which Gooding anticipates bidding between $2.6-$3 million, is another Klutt collectible, as is a 1966 Ford Shelby Cobra 427, $1.2-$1.4 million.
Gooding gilds the GTB/4 story with mystery. “After being held by one family for more than 40 years, the four-cam was rediscovered and displayed at the 2013 Pebble Beach concours,” the Gooding catalogue says, “where it won a second in class award in the postwar preservation judging,”
In fact, the ‘rediscovery ‘ was the happy result of Klutt’s vintage racing acquainting him with Bill Gagliano, a fellow ‘Vette driver at Elkhart Lake, Wis. After selling his Corvette, Gagliano told Klutt that one car he could never part with was his late father’s GTB/4. “Seven years later, after hounding him every six months, he agreed to sell,” Klutt says of the early 2013 magic moment.
Absent the sentimentality of the Gagliano family’s four-and-half decades with the car, Klutt opted to surf the rising tide of Ferrari values by auctioning the GTB/4 with no reserve. “How much premium do you put on a car this original – original paint, tires, muffler, probably one of the best if not the best four-cams? I hope it goes for more than any before it.”
Asked if he anticipates more than the $10,175,000 (all figures U.S., including auction premium) at last year’s RM sale for the GTB/4 that Steve McQueen bought new, Klutt said, “Nothing can top a Steve McQueen car.” We’ll find out soon enough. The Goodings auction runs Aug. 15-16 while RM Sotheby’s is Aug. 13-15 and Bonhams is Aug. 13-14.
As for celebrity ownership, what of His Holiness’s Ferrari Enzo, included in RM Sotheby’s Pinnacle Portfolio? Used cars are often said to be only driven on Sundays, but far from that, Pope John Paul II never drove the final Enzo, presented to the Vatican by Ferrari and sold to a Florida dealership.
Some Ferraris go for chump change, relatively speaking. Bidding between $75,000-$100,000 is anticipated for a low-mileage 1978 328 GTS on offer at the Bonhams – Quail Lodge Auction. These are the Honda Civics of the Ferrari world, the 328s, practically mass-produced with 7,400 sold.
Blue-chip Ferraris commanded the 10 highest prices paid at auctions worldwide in 2014, according to the Classic Cars Auction website. A Ferrari 275 GTB/C Speciale exchanged hands for $26.4 million at the RM sale, second only to the GTO auctioned by Bonhams. Bidding for a Ferrari 265 P reached $22 million at Gooding and Company – no sale, being short of the reserve price. Of approximately 200 cars sold last year for $1 million or more, 70 were Ferraris.
Here’s what is going under the gavel at Pebble Beach and what the estimated price is for each vehicle: