550 GTZ Barchetta

2001 Ferrari 550 GTZ Barchetta by Zagato

Offered by Bonhams | London, U.K. | December 7, 2019

Photo – Bonhams

The Ferrari 550 Maranello was produced between 1996 and 2002. In 2000, the company launched the 550 Barchetta, a convertible version that marked Ferrari’s fun new business of chopping the top and jacking up the price for a limited-edition model. Only 448 Barchetta examples were built.

This one was later customized by coachbuilder Zagato. It was actually developed with Ferrari as a convertible variant of the 575 GTZ, which itself was a Zagato-modified version of the 550’s followup car, the 575M Maranello. Because the 575 Superamerica (the 575’s expensive drop-top version) had yet to enter production, they backtracked to the 550 Barchetta to built the drop-top 575 Zagato.

When new, this car cost $1 million. It’s powered by a 478 horsepower, 5.5-liter V12. They planned to build five, but only three were completed. And this is the only right-hand-drive example. The pre-sale estimate is $640,000-$900,000, and you can read more about it here. See more from Bonhams in London here.

Update: Sold $769,393.

Ferrari 550 Barchetta

2001 Ferrari 550 Barchetta

Offered by Silverstone Auctions | Silverstone, U.K. | May 18, 2018

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

Chase the lineage of this car back far enough and it takes you right to the legendary Ferrari Daytona Spider. You see, the Ferrari 550 Maranello replaced the Ferrari Testarossa (and its derivatives) which replaced the Ferrari 512BB which, you guessed it, replaced the Daytona. But the BB and the Testarossa never had factory drop top versions. So when Ferrari decided to chop the top off of its 550, it was big news.

Pininfarina was responsible for the styling and just 448 examples were produced between 2000 and 2001. They were quite pricey when new and it was eventually succeeded by the 575 Superamerica. These cars were so popular that Ferrari has continued to offer late-cycle convertibles of their big front-engined V-12 cars. And they are always rare and always ridiculously expensive.

This 3,000-mile example is powered by a 485 horsepower, 5.5-liter V-12. It’s one of 42 sold new in the U.K. and does have right-hand drive. This 199 mph convertible still shows that it is a sought-after car, nearly 20 years on, as it carries a pre-sale estimate of $450,000-$525,000. Click here for more info and here for the rest of Silverstone’s all-Ferrari lineup.

Update: “Result to Follow”