Most Expensive Car: 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO Auction Could Top $70 Million

A 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO, chassis no. 3413, presently owned by renowned car collector Greg Whitten, former chief software architect at Microsoft and present chairman of Numerix, will be up for grabs at an auction at the annual Concours d’Elegance motoring week event in Pebble Beach, Monterey, California, on Aug. 24 and 25 and could be the most expensive car ever auctioned.

“We are thrilled at the rare opportunity to offer a legendary Ferrari 250 GTO at auction,” said Shelby Myers, car specialist at auction consigner RM Sotheby's, Forbes reported. “This is just the third time that a GTO has been offered for public sale in the new millennium. The fact that the GTO exists as it did in period along with Dr. Whitten’s long-term enthusiastic ownership only adds to the car’s impeccable pedigree.”

The race car’s pre-auction price is estimated to be $45 million – a sale amount that can easily shoot up once the auction starts. Ferrari expert Marcel Massini recently said he expects Ferrari 250 GTOs to go for over $100 million in the next two to three years. If records of expensive Ferraris sold at auctions in the past are drawn up, then it would seem Massini’s prediction is not far off.

Race car driver Christian Gläsel sold his 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO, chassis 4153, in a private sale to David MacNeil, founder of the car floor mats maker WeatherTech, for at least $70 million in June. Prior to that, a chassis 3851 was auctioned for $38.1 million in 2014. The third example was the rumored private sale of a 250 GTO by American collector Paul Pappalardo in 2013 for $52 million.

What makes a Ferrari 250 GTO a collectible is the fact that the Italian car designer has manufactured only 36 of the particular model over the years. As for the 1962 model, it was only the third 250 GTO ever built by Ferrari.

“The GTO was essentially the final true road racer, marking the end of an era when drivers really got their hands dirty,” Myers said. “This was the last car that you could park in your garage, drive to the track, win the race, and then drive home.”

The 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO is one of its kind as it won 1962 Italian National GT Championship and nine other races that year with Edoardo Lualdi-Gabardi, the driver who owned it before it was sold to another private owner, Gianni Bulgari, who continued the vehicle’s streak of participating in races, Auto Blog reported.

It was last sold in 2000 by Sir Lindsay Owens-Jones, former Chairman of L’Oreal and current Ferrari board member, who sold it to Whitten for $7 million. For the last eight years, the car has been popping up in various classic events and vintage races. Miraculously, it never crashed in any of the races and, according to Myers, is in a "highly original" condition.