1957 Ferrari 625 TRC Spider

Offered by RM Auctions | Monaco | May 12, 2012

Impossible as it may seem, auction houses keep topping themselves with rarer and rarer cars – or in the case of RM, rarer and rarer Ferraris. This is one will be hard to top as it is but one of two 1957 Ferrari 625 TRC Spiders built. And it’s just sitting there, waiting for you to open your checkbook.

Originally purchased by West Coast Ferrari distributor Johnny von Neumann, this car has spent its entire life both A) in known hands and b) at the race track. While it never competed “with the big boys” at races like Le Mans, it has plenty of SCCA and other club racing wins under its belt. More recently, it has competed in over 100 races dedicated to vintage racing cars – far more than it did when it was new. The most interesting, perhaps, of all races this car was involved in was the very first race at Laguna Seca in 1957, where it finished 2nd.

When Ferrari shipped this car new to California, it was equipped with a 2.5-liter Lampredi straight-four engine making about 225 horsepower. In 1960, the second owner swapped out the original engine for a Chevy V8 (I shuddered as I read that the first time). Later on, the Chevy engine was replaced in favor of a 3.0-liter V-12 making 320 horsepower and the car was restored in the early 1980s.

“But, wait!” you say. “This is not a numbers matching car, surely the value is lessened.” Ah, but the original engine was tracked down (at some point, presumably by the current owner who has owned the car for 30 years) and it is offered with the car. So when you buy it, you can re-install it if you so choose. I’m beginning to wish my list of problems in life included: “which engine do I want in my Ferrari this week?”

This is one of those pesky “Estimate Upon Request” cars, so, in other words, if you need to ask, you can’t afford it. But look for it to fetch multiple millions. For the entire – and much more complete – catalog description, click here. To check out the other cars from RM in Monaco, click here.

Update: sold $6,526,800.