Setting an all-time record, an extremely rare 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO was sold for a whopping $38 million at a Bonhams auction in the popular luxury resort town of Carmel, south of San Francisco. However, it failed to meet the analysts' expectations.
Before this, the record of highest price ever paid for a car at an auction was prominently held by a 1954 Mercedes-Benz W196 F1 car which sold for $29.7 million.
The 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO was auctioned off as part of the Monterey Car Week, regarded as one of the world's biggest classic car festivals. Even as the Ferrari GTO set a new world record for being the highest paid car at an auction, the bid fell short of analysts' expectations that was up to two times the amount.
"Good god no! It's a world record!" auctioneer Robert Brooks said after the event, the Los Angeles Times reported. "I mean the previous world record was $30 million, and we're nearly 30% ahead of that. That's a lot of money; that's a big up."
The bid started off on a high note with opening bid of $11 million and struck $31 million in less than a minute. But, the sale went flat at $34 million before finally concluding the sale at $34.65 million. A 10 percent buyer fee puts the total price of the car to about $38 million.
The Ferrari 250 GTO sold during Thursday's auction was valued for more than its specifications. The car holds a significant history. Powered by a 3.0-liter, 300 horsepower V-12 engine, the two-seat coupe was crashed, damaged, rebuilt and repainted several times in its lifespan. In 1962, French racer Henri Oreiller suffered an accident that resulted in fatal injuries.
The Ferrari race car was one of the 39 GTOs in all over the world. Most of them are owned by renowned celebrities such as fashion mogul Ralph Lauren and Nick Mason, the drummer for Pink Floyd. According to a report by CSI Monitor, only 28 of those were built with 3.0-liter V12 engine and three were build with 4.0-lter V12 engine that bear 330 GTO brand.
