“The car set a new auction world record as the most expensive motor car ever to be sold at auction,” said Amy Christie, a spokeswoman for RM Auctions, which conducted the third annual Ferrari Leggenda e Passione sale.
The immaculate machine actually sold for a “hammer price” of €8.2 million. But with a buyer’s premium of 10 percent, the official sale price was €9.02 million — or $12,402,500 at current exchange rates, Ms. Christie added.
The price was €1.98 million higher than the previous auction record, which was set at the same sale last year. The record previous to that, for those keeping score, was set at the 2007 edition of this Ferrari-sanctioned event.
“There were some disappointments,” said Dan Abernethy of Sotheby’s auction house, which produced the event with RM, “but all in all it was a very strong event.”
Perhaps an example of what Mr. Abernethy was referring to was a 1967 Ferrari 330 P4 racecar that failed to make its reserve price (the minimum amount at which its seller was willing to let it go) despite earning a bid of €7.25 million. That would have actually broken last year’s record price, too. Auction officials said they were continuing to meet with the high bidder and seller to make a deal. “They were very close,” Ms. Christie said.
A 1956 Maserati 250F in which Stirling Moss won the Monaco Grand Prix also failed to sell, despite pulling bids over $2 million.
The Leggenda e Passione, or Legend and Passion, event is the only auction of its kind, dedicated solely to the Ferrari and related Maserati marques and held at Ferrari’s Maranello factory grounds with the official imprimatur of the automaker. Several dozen pieces of memorabilia from the company’s private collection were also sold here, including racing team uniforms, tools, parts and press materials. The auction concluded a week of special tours, parties and driving activities at Ferrari’s private Formula One test track for registered bidders. A crowd of nearly 1,000 attended.
The auctioneers did not immediately disclose the identity of the winning bidder, other than to say it was someone represented by an agent who phoned in bids on his behalf. Another telephone bidder and several bidders actually present in the auction arena engaged in a spirited exchange that started at €4 million and eventually topped out at more than double that amount.
“I do think there is a lot of good money out there still for great cars priced right, especially cars new to the market,” said David Gooding, principal of the rival Gooding & Company auction house, who was among those attending. “There has been a correction in the market, to be sure. Sellers and auction houses have to be astute in their pricing — myself included — and not be unreasonable.”
