Record auction car

All phones are turned toward the 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO as racing legend Phil Hill describes the car before Sotheby's record-breaking aution.

RM Sotheby’s can now claim the most expensive car ever sold at auction crown. With a hammer price of $44 million and a buyer’s premium, the 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO that was the talk of Car Week sold for a total of $48,405,000 Saturday night at the Monterey Conference Center.

Sotheby’s wrested the title from Bonham’s, which had held onto the mark since 2014, when it sold another 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO for $38 million, premium included.

The sale helped pushed preliminary auction results for 2018’s Car Week to $367.5 million between the six auction houses participating.

A second record was set over the weekend, when a 1935 Duesenberg SSJ Roadster offered by Gooding & Co. gaveled at $22 million, well over the $10 million low-end estimate and the highest price for a car built before World War II.

The Duesenberg was once owned by Gary Cooper.

But most of the attention on Saturday was turned toward the Ferrari and downtown Monterey. And Sotheby’s turned the event into a bit of theater, dimming the lights before the car arrived on the block and asking racing legend Phil Hill—who once piloted the car—to drive it on stage.

After an opening bid for $35 million, the tally reached $41 million before action slowed. There was a long pause before a remote bid of $42 million came in. After some coaxing, another remote bidder nudged the price up by $500,000.

Clearly there was some consideration on the other end of the lines. No one in the room raised a paddle and the remote bidders were quiet—waiting until the hammer was raised and calling out small (comparatively) increments: $43.25, $43.5, $43.75.

There was a moment of levity when the auctioneer let “thousand” slip out in place of “million.” For the most part, however, the room was hushed.

When the hammer clapped at $44 million, a cheer went up. Almost immediately, attendees began to clear the room. The auction house was forced to bring proceedings to a temporary halt to allow the commotion to settle.

Greg Whitten consigned the car to Sotheby’s. He is the chair of Numerix Software and according to Bloomberg a Microsoft employee during the firm’s early days. The buyer has not been named, but the bidder number was stated as 6882.

Over three days of auctions on the Peninsula, 841 vehicles sold out of 1,376 put on offer. In addition to the Ferrari and Duesenberg, a third vehicle reached eight digits and another came close. Sotheby’s sold a 1963 Aston Martin DP215 for $21,455,000. The house also hammered a 1966 Ford GT40 that ran at LeMans at $9,795,000.

The preliminary mark of $367.5 million for all auctions tops last year’s total by $40 million.

Buyer’s premium for Sotheby’s was set at 12 percent up to $250,000 and 10 percent beyond that point.

(1) comment

Mark Geiger

I'm a little confused here... Seeing how Mr. Hill died almost exactly 10 years ago. That's quite a feat!

Welcome to the discussion.

Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.