Zagato Tour de France

1957 Ferrari 250 GT LWB Berlinetta Tour de France by Zagato

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Monterey, California | August 2023

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Well here is a big-boy Ferrari. So big in fact that RM will not even run it across their block in Monterey this year. Instead they are going to the “Sotheby’s Sealed” format, which, I guess, just takes the fun out of watching people bid.

The long-wheelbase 250 GT started out with the 250 Europa, and the “Long Wheelbase Berlinetta” debuted in 1956 and acquired the nickname “Tour de France” after the cars competed in the 10-day Tour de France race. Just 77 were built through 1959, most of which were bodied by Scaglietti based on a Pinin Farina design.

But five of them escaped off to Zagato, and this car is the third of those. It has the signature double-bubble Zagato roof and is the only such example with covered headlights. It also has a 3.0-liter Colombo V12 that made somewhere around 250 horsepower. This car has period competition history, too, including:

  • 1957 Mille Miglia – 6th (with Camillo Luglio and Umberto Carli)

It was restored in the early 2000s and has been with its current owner since 1999. It’s been shown at Pebble Beach three times since, winning its class in 2009. You can read more about it here.

Update: Withdrawn.

Ferrari 312 PB

1972 Ferrari 312 PB

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Cernobbio, Italy | May 20, 2023

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Big-time Ferrari prototype sports racers don’t change hands very often. At least not publicly. The 312 PB was a Group 6 prototype race car built and campaigned between 1971 and 1973. Fun fact, this car was technically called the 312 P, but Ferrari also had an older 312 P, so it’s been retroactively dubbed “PB.”

Another fun fact is that these cars took so much focus from Ferrari that their Formula One program had begun to suffer. So after the 1973 sports car season, they walked away from prototype racers to focus on F1 again. So this was sort of the last of the line for a while.

The car is powered by a 3.0-liter flat-12 that made 460 horsepower. It’s unclear how many were produced, but the catalog says this chassis, 0886, is one of six used as works racers during the 1972 season. Its competition history includes:

  • 1972 1,000km of Buenos Aires – 1st (with Ronnie Peterson and Tim Schenken)
  • 1972 12 Hours of Sebring – 2nd (with Peterson and Schenken)
  • 1972 1,000km of Monza – 3rd (with Peterson and Schenken)
  • 1972 1,000km Nurburgring – 1st (with Peterson and Schenken)

This car was then present at the Monterey Historics as early as 1975. Ferrari won the sports car manufacturer’s championship in ’72, with a huge helping hand from this chassis. It now carries a massive estimate of $15,500,000-$19,750,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $12,766,856.

Ferrari 500 TR Spider

1956 Ferrari 500 TR Spider by Scaglietti

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Cernobbio, Italy | May 20, 2023

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The Ferrari 500 TR was actually part of Ferrari’s Monza line of sports racing cars, and not part of the 250 Testa Rossa range (those had V12s). Produced for 1956, the 500 TR replaced the earlier 500 Mondial.

It shared the Mondial’s 2.0-liter Lampredi inline-four that revved to a pretty incredible 180 horsepower. It featured a coil-sprung suspension, which broke new ground for Ferrari, and a synchronized gearbox.

This example, which is the third of 17 built, was sold new to an Italian privateer, who took it road racing around Italy. It later spent time way up north, incurring damage at a race in Finland. The resulting repairs saw it gain a 500 TRC-style nose. An owner in the 1970s/80s used the car heavily in historic events.

It’s been with its current owner since 2011, and i’s now selling at no reserve. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $3,941,107.

Ferrari Monza SP1

2019 Ferrari Monza SP1

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Cernobbio, Italy | May 20, 2023

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Here is a very limited-edition special late-model Ferrari. The Monza SP1 and SP2 were roofless sports cars – errr, collector’s items, produced by Ferrari starting in 2019. The difference between the cars are the number of seats. The SP1 is a single seater, while the SP2 has a passenger seat.

The cars are actually based around the Ferrari 812 Superfast and share that car’s 6.5-liter V12, which is rated at 798 horsepower in Monza form. 60 mph arrives in under three seconds.

This car was delivered new in Spain and has been with its current collection since 2022. Most of these presumably just sit in collections. Ferrari planned a run of 499 examples. This one is selling at no reserve. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $2,569,538.

575 GTC

2003 Ferrari 575 GTC

Offered by Artcurial | Paris, France | February 3, 2023

Photo – Artcurial

Sometimes it is easy to forget that Ferrari had a GT sports car presence in the early 2000s. They built two GTC examples of the 550 Maranello (after production had wrapped for the street car). Those were sort of proof-of-concepts for this, the 575 GTC, based on the 575M Maranello road car.

Just 12 of these were built by Ferrari. They featured a 6.0-liter V12 rated at 605 horsepower. It’s a tube-frame race car with a composite body, making it much lighter than the road cars. The competition history for this chassis, #2204, includes:

  • 2004 24 Hours of Spa – 22nd (with Andrea Garbagnati, Antoine Gosse, and Peter Kutemann)
  • 2005 1000km Spa – 44th, DNF (with Gosse, Kutemann, and Hans Hugenholtz)
  • 2005 24 Hours of Le Mans – 39th, DNF (with Jean-Rene de Fournoux, Stephane Daoudi, and Jim Matthews)
  • 2005 1000km Nurburgring – 40th, DNF (with Gosse, Daoudi, and Kutemann)

The V12 was overhauled in 2015, and the car now wears its 2005 Le Mans livery. This is a factory Ferrari race car with Le Mans history. It has an estimate of $3,500,000-$4,100,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Not sold.

Testarossa

1987 Ferrari Testarossa

Offered by Mecum | Kissimmee, Florida | January 14, 2023

Photo – Mecum

The Testarossa was the successor to the 512 BBi, and it was a pretty big step forward into the 1980s when it launched in 1984. It was also the most mass-produced Ferrari when it went out of production in 1996 (including the more limited 512 TR and F512 M variants). Over 9,900 were made all together.

It’s also one of the more iconic and instantly recognizable Ferraris. Synonymous with the ’80s, the cars are powered by a 4.9-liter flat-12 that made 380 horsepower in U.S.-spec trim. Early “monospecchio” cars are a little more outlandish with their single top-mounted rearview mirror. This ’87 model has more traditional mirrors on both sides.

It’s hard to beat a red Ferrari with enormous side strakes. This one has 30,000 miles, a recent belt service, and a Tubi Style exhaust. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $176,000.

Ferrari F2003-GA

2003 Ferrari F2003-GA

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Geneva, Switzerland | November 9, 2022

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Ferrari was on fire in this era of F1. This, the F2003-GA (the GA standing for Gianni Agnelli, the previous head of Fiat), gave Michael Schumacher his sixth and penultimate world championship. Rubens Barrichello was the team’s other driver this season, and he won two races in his F2003-GA. Schumacher won five. And they didn’t even use the car for the first four races of the season.

This particular chassis, #229, has a competition history that includes:

  • 2003 Spanish Grand Prix – 1st (with Michael Schumacher)
  • 2003 Austrian Grand Prix – 1st (with Schumacher)
  • 2003 Monaco Grand Prix – 3rd (with Schumacher)
  • 2003 Canadian Grand Prix – 1st (with Schumacher)
  • 2003 European Grand Prix – 5th (with Schumacher)
  • 2003 French Grand Prix – 3rd (with Schumacher)
  • 2003 Italian Grand Prix – 1st (with Schumacher)
  • 2003 U.S. Grand Prix – 1st (with Schumacher)
  • 2003 Japanese Grand Prix – 8th (with Schumacher)

Apparently there are only four Schumacher-era Ferrari F1 cars that won five or more races, and this is one of them. It’s powered by a 3.0-liter V10 that made 845 horsepower in race trim. It’s fully serviced and ready to go. It has an estimate of $7,500,000-$9,500,000. Click here for more info.

Ferrari 625 F1

1954 Ferrari 625 F1

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Monterey, California | August 18-20, 2022

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Formula One didn’t technically come into existence, by that name anyway, until 1950. Prior to that there was just a European Championship, in which Ferrari debuted in 1948. So this car, then, is from the first decade of Ferrari’s open-wheel racing program.

In 1952 and 1953, Formula Two was actually the pinnacle of motorsport, as determined by its governing body, the FIA. So the best drivers all tooled around in F2 cars for a couple of years before Formula One again became the World Championship decider in 1954.

Ferrari’s Aurelio Lampredi-designed F2 car for 1952 and 1953 was the 500. When the Scuderia had to shift back to F1, they took 500 chassis and modified them into 625 F1 spec. And this, chassis 0540, is one of those cars. The engine in the 625 was a 2.5-liter inline-four equipped with dual Weber carburetors for an output of up to 227 horsepower.

This car started out as the fourth of five 500 F2 cars before being retrofitted and re-serialed by the factory as a 625 F1. It was campaigned at both levels by Ecurie Francorchamps, a Belgian F1 team. It was later owned by Donald Healey and Pierre Bardinon.

This real-deal Ferrari monoposto from the golden age of F1 racing now has an estimate of $3,000,000-$4,000,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Not sold.

Ferrari F300

1998 Ferrari F300

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Monterey, California | August 18-20, 2022

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

This was Ferrari’s 1998 F1 contender. It was very similar to 1997’s F310B, which itself was an evolution of 1996’s F310. The main differences between 1998 and 1997 were a narrower track and redesigned sidepods.

Ferrari supplied their own 3.0-liter V10, which made about 805 horsepower in this application. The season’s drivers were Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine, and the competition history for this particular chassis, 187, includes:

  • 1998 Canadian Grand Prix – 1st (with Michael Schumacher)
  • 1998 French Grand Prix – 1st (with Schumacher)
  • 1998 British Grand Prix – 1st (with Schumacher)
  • 1998 Italian Grand Prix – 1st (with Schumacher)

Not bad. Unfortunately, Mika Hakkinen’s McLaren was still too strong, and Schumacher ended up second in the World Championship. Ferrari also took second place in the constructors race. Ferrari sold this car late the following year to a private owner.

Race-winning cars from former world champions are hard to come by, especially with their engines intact. The price reflects it here: the estimate is $6,000,000-$8,000,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $6,220,000.

166 MM Berlinetta Le Mans

1950 Ferrari 166 MM Berlinetta Le Mans by Touring

Offered by Gooding & Company | Pebble Beach, California | August 19-20, 2022

Photo – Gooding & Company

Ferrari’s first cars were the 125 S and 159 S. After that, on the racing side, there was the 166 S and 166 MM. That makes this a very early, very valuable Ferrari. The 166 MM was built between 1948 and 1953, and it was a fairly high-volume model. Well, relatively anyway: 47 were built.

Of those, just five of those were Touring-bodied Berlinettas, which were introduced in 1950. Power is provided by a 2.0-liter V12 rated at about 170 horsepower. This is a car from 1950 with a five-speed. It meant business.

This model’s racing success was also serious. It was the only model to have ever won Le Mans, the Targa Florio, and the Mille Miglia. This car, confusingly serialed as 0066 M, was the last of the five built. It never took part in any of Europe’s grand races, but did take part in hillclimbs and road races in Europe before being imported to the U.S. in 1958.

It’s been with its current California-based owner since 2008 and it’s back at auction with an estimate of $5,500,000-$6,500,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Not sold.