A 1964 Ferrari 250 LM sold for $14.3 million at auction on Thursday.
Estimated at $12 million to $15 million, it was the top lot of Art of the Automobile, the first car auction in Manhattan in more than a decade. Organized by Sotheby’s and RM Auctions, it offered 34 trophy vehicles. The auction tallied $62.8 million, exceeding the presale estimate of $50 million; of the 41 offered lots, only three failed to find buyers. The winning bidder was on the telephone, represented by RM specialist Ian Kelleher.
While the 250 LM price smashed the record of $6.9 million for the model, it fell short of the top price for the marque: a 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO racer became the world’s most expensive car, selling for $52 million privately. The salesroom was packed, with the elevators full and champagne flowing at 2pm.
“It was a big experiment,” said Rob Myers, founder and chief executive officer of RM Auctions, which has headquarters in Ontario, Canada. “The results rank among the top four auctions we’ve ever had,” Myers said, sipping Budweiser after the sale.
The red Ferrari, just 44 inches (1.1 meters) tall, was designed by Carrozzeria Scaglietti, on chassis number 6107. Only 32 examples of Ferrari 250 LM have been produced, including the last Ferrari to win the 24-Hour race at Le Mans in 1965.
The car had been owned by Ecuadorian car racing duo as well as collectors from Japan, the UK and California. Sotheby’s, RM Auctions, or both companies had an economic interest in the lot, according to the catalog.
Car crash
The Ferrari had been parked by the entrance to Sotheby’s New York headquarters before moving up to the 10th floor for the exhibition this week. Other Ferraris, Bugattis and Cadillacs were exhibited on the same space where Andy Warhol’s $105 million Silver Car Crash and hedge-fund billionaire Steven A. Cohen’s art trove hung last week.
The auto exhibition attracted between 1,200 and 1,500 visitors a day, one of the highest attendance rates for Sotheby’s, the auction house said.
An Art Deco-inspired, cream-coloured 1938 Talbot-Lago cabriolet made by French coachbuilders Figoni et Falaschi fetched $7.15 million with fees, against the estimate range of $8 million to $10 million. This beat the previous best for a Talbot-Lago of $4.8 million. The prices include a buyer’s premium; the estimates don’t.
Lincoln fails
The biggest casualty was a 1955 orange Lincoln made by Italian coachbuilder Felice Mario Boano. Estimated at $2 million to $2.5 million, it stalled at $1.5 million.
“There were ups and downs,” said Marcel Massini, a Swiss- based Ferrari historian, who attended the auction. “At this price level, the air is very thin.”
A Maserati A6G/2000 Spyder from 1955 with coachwork by Carrozzeria Zagato sold for $4.5 million, against an estimate of $3.5 million to $4.5 million.
A 1959 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Competition Berlinetta Speciale, a dual-purpose sports racing coupe with bespoke coachwork by Bertone, fetched $7 million, within the presale estimate range. It was the third priciest lot of the sale.
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