Picture Courtesy: RM Sotheby’s
RM Sotheby’s sells a rare 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO for a whopping $ 48 million dollars or roughly Rs 336 crore at their recent auction in Monterey, California, USA. RM Sotheby’s is one of the biggest auction houses in the world and are renowned for auctioning classic and ultra-rare cars that fetch top-dollar. Recently, they auctioned a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO, a highly valuable collector’s car, at $ 48,405,000, which has made it the most valuable car ever sold by the auction house.
The 250 GTO was produced from 1962 to 1964 for homologation purposes as Ferrari wanted to enter it in the FIA’s Group 3 Grand Touring Championship. In 1962, the car was available for around $ 18,000, however, today the 250 GTO is a prized possession and very few owners’ are willing to part with it. It was quite a successful road car. The 250 GTO sold at the auction, belonged to a prominent businessman, Ferrari enthusiast, and vintage racing driver Gregory Whitten. The car was driven to the sales floor by five-time LeMans winner Derek Bell who was received with cheers and a lot of applause by the audience. The bidding for the car started at $ 35 million (Rs 245 crore) and within ten minutes the bid reached $ 48 million (366 crore). There were three bidders on the phone bidding for the car and there was also a time when the auction witnessed increments as big as a $ 1 million (Rs 7 crore). At the auction RM Sotheby’s also sold another classic car the Aston Martin DP 215 Grand Touring Competition prototype, which is a one-off racing machine made in 1963 by the British car makers. The DP 215 went for a whopping $ 21.45 million or Rs 150 crore. It was too received with a lot of enthusiasm at the auction.
