$16.4 million Ferrari tops record-breaking vintage car auctions
- August 22, 2011 15:09
A legendary sports car finished first in the world as far as price records. The 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa Prototype raced to a record-breaking $16.4 million at a Pebble Beach, Calif., auction on Aug. 20.
The 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa Prototype, which competed in the Le Mans 24-hour race, was the testbed for the Testa Rossa line, arguably the most successful series of sports racing cars in history, according to auction house Gooding & Co.
Competitive bidders also sent singer Sheryl Crow's 1959 Mercedes-Benz 190 SL Roadster to $143,000 from a $50,000-80,000 estimate. Proceeds from the sale will benefit tornado relief efforts in Joplin, Missouri.
Gooding & Co. has broken records before, notably a 1959 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spider that fetched $7.26 million last year.
The Monterey Car Week also included a record $80 million sale for RM Auctions. A Mercedes-Benz set a record for the maker with the $9.7 million sale of a silver 1937 540 K Spezial Roadster.
Steve McQueen's slate-gray 1970 Porsche 911S, featured in the film "Le Mans" and later part of a personal collection of "The King of Cool," fetched a record price for the model at $1.4 million.
RM's sale saw record bidder registrations from 20 countries, including Argentina, Japan, and United Arab Emirates.
"The ultra-rich remain ultra-rich," said Marcel Massini, a Swiss-based Ferrari historian, to Bloomberg. "The very, very best sells easy and incredibly high."
