Merged: 250 GTO sold for $20 million +

Yeah, back in the day, the Academy grads came straight to Pensacola for their flight training. Because they could now buy a car and get laid, just about all of them brought a sports car and headed to the beach.

Memory is funny. I keep seeing a silver car in my mind's eye, but this was 43 years ago. Who knows?

Another repressed memory is that Brumos had a presence in Pensacola. For the life of me, I can't remember why I think this.

Dale

PS The "Black Cats" in my sig refers to the PBYs that my dad flew in the Pacific. Yep, I'm a Navy brat.

 

$28.5-30M is certainly an impressive number, but when compared with the prices of 'fine' art; Picasso, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Degas, etc. at hundreds of millions each for some dabs of pigment on a piece of fabric, $30M seems somehow a bargain still...

She'd be worth it too. Here's a shot I took of her at Pebble in 2005.

-Tad
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The famous USA Bugatti collector, Dr. PETER D. WILLIAMSON, died from cancer, Wednesday, June 4, at his home in Lyme, NH.

Gooding & Company has been selected to represent the sale of the Dr. Peter and Susan Williamson Collection of renowned Bugattis. “This is the finest collection of Bugattis ever to come to auction,” states David Gooding, President and Founder of Gooding & Company. “This exceptional collection includes some of the world’s most unique Bugattis - from exhilarating Grand Prix machines to elegant road cars.”

The late Dr. Williamson was the past President and longtime member of the American Bugatti Club. Dr. and Mrs. Williamson also won the prestigious “Best of Show” at the 2003 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.

All of Dr. Peter Williamson's cars except for the 1936 Bugatti Type 57 SC Atlantic #57374 (for the moment) will be auctioned by Gooding and Co. on either August 16 or 17,2008 at Pebble Beach.

Read more about his collection in this special issue of the Bugatti Revue. Article written by Johan Buchner : http://www.bugattirevue.com/revue33/peter.htm

 

Clyde was the dogs name .

 

Salon de Geneve "06"

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v409/C-one/Merc.jpg

 

I had the pleasure of meeting him at the last Castle Hill concourse. A real gentleman.

 

I think there were races at the NAS back then. I grew up in Fort Lauderdale....our neighbor was the service manager at the local VW-Porsche dealer. I still remember Sunday evenings/Monday mornings with 356 Carreras, 904s and Abarth Carreras on trailers in front of his house.

Jack.

 

You guys have inspired me. Next time I go home, I'm gonna root around to see what I can find.

Dale

 

South Florida had a lot of endurance racing "cast offs" back in the late 50's thru the mid 60's.

What would happen is that teams from Europe would bring their cars over for Daytona and Sebring and by the time they ran those two races, they would be pretty clapped out. Sometimes they would bring over last years cars and run the two races and planned to start fresh in Europe in the spring with new stuff. It was easier to get rid of them and build new cars for the rest of the season rather than ship them back to Europe, so they would bring them back to West Palm Beach or Miami and unload them. These were mostly production based cars, not the real exotic stuff, but neat none the less... In those days the roll bars were bolted in and could be removed pretty easily, so it was possible to take a car from the track, take out the roll bar and have a pretty neat street car.

My sisters boyfriend had a Jag 120 with a 40 gallon tank that ran at Sebring in the 50's and his friend had a TR-4 that was an ex-Sebring factory car. I ran across a BMW TI/SA when I was in College in Gainesville that was an ex-factory car that had all the support metal in the hood doors and trunklid that looked like swiss cheese...

It was an interesting time and place to grow up...

 

Back then the US was cosidered the final market for such cars.

 

Did you happen to know Jay Lilley? I'd guess him to be around 55 nowadays (just a couple years older than myself). He grew up within a stone's throw from Sebring, and his Father (also still alive) was a racing mechanic of some merit. Jay would travel to Lemans with him too.

 

Wouldn't the local paper have covered the events at the NAS? If you are going for a visit, stop by the local library and check the microfiche. Also most of the larger military Base/Post installations had their own newspapers that would cover events. The Base/Post library might have archives.

 

I have been told by a solid source that the GTO sold for $28.5 million, including a commission of $500,000.
The seller was in Scotland, buyer is in England. The deal was brokered by a prominent California Ferrari store.

 

That confirms what I heard.

Off the topic there was an Auto Union car that was to be auctioned by RM and some predicted it to be the worlds most expensive car if sold . What ever happened to the car and the auction?

 

Hi

Auto Union D - Type that was to have been sold by Christies in Paris during 2007 was eventually canned because Audi couldnt decide which D - Type it was, the estimate was $15 mil USD +. The car was withdrawn and originally was to be sold at Monterey later in the year. Then finally it went to Private Tender later in the year and last of all has gone to ground. IT WILL HAVE BEEN SOLD however.
I would assume there is so much money floating around the world and with other forms of investments offering poor returns why not invest in a classic f-car, you can have an investment while at the same time having a fun car to drive in. ??

Tim

 

That's a very valid point. It seems like whilst the Stock Market is so depressed and as you pointed out, many, many investment opportunities are turning out to be poor choices - real estate included - the interest in classic sports cars does not seem to be affected by the lousy market. In some ways, collecting very rare automobiles seems like an economically secure investment avenue - Modern exotics included! I think the main point though, is the time in which one must own the car to make a decent profit on it. We may just see a jump in high market auto brokering! Sign me up!



_J

 

In 1990 I knew that the market was peaking because that was when people started putting together "Collectible Car Investment Funds" so that people could "invest" in cars that must have seemed to be on a perpetual upward price trajectory. Three years later most Ferrari prices were down 75% from their peak. Some investment, almost as bad as buying subprime mortgages or Bear Stearns stock (or any other financial institution, including Freddie and Fannie) in 2007!

There are many differences from 1990 in 2008 but I think that "investing" in Ferraris or other "rare" or "limited edition" cars is very, very risky. What is the investment upside in a $30 million 250 GTO? Could it go higher, sure, especially if the US dollar continues to weaken and if emerging economies continue to create millionaires who happen to lust after such a car. By the same token, the downside and opportunity cost also are pretty material.

 

It is not about the money.

 

That narrows it down a bit... 1 in Northern England,2 in the Midlands,1 in Gloucestershire and 1 owned by a Scotsman domiciled in Monaco.

 

This is my first post. Hello to all!

Some of you will remember good old George Dyer (former owner of s/n 4219). George purchased his GTO in 1964 for $12k. The prior owner, Bev Spencer, took a $2k loss. Back then the old race car was 'sale proof' even with great race history (won the Daytona Continental (3hrs) driver: Pedro Rodriguez). At the peak in 1990 George turned down $13.5M. For him it was never about the money. In fact, he never insured the GTO. He stored it in his garage at home and drove it around town (for nearly three decades). He welcomed Ferraristi from all over the world to visit and see the GTO.

George had a fantastic sense of humor and was always in a great mood (I miss him). Maybe that's what happens when you can afford a GTO, and "it is not about the money!"

The GTO was sold during the recession of the early 1990s. Believe me George still made out fine. The current owner, Brandon Wang, deserves such a fantastic Ferrari. He is a world class caretaker. Given the dramatic escalation of Ferrari values clearly there are more caretakers waiting for their chance then ever before, and they have plenty of money.

It is about the covet

Max

 

Not totally true. I know any number of individuals who will never be able to own a Ferrari, yet care far more about them than many owners.

 

Actually... IMHO, there are some comparisons that can be made:

1-Beauty
2-Rarity
3-Name

When you have those 3 in a painting, then prices can reach sky high (see the Van Gogh's)

It's the same for the GTO's... Especially the "original" ones. If I am not mistaken, this one is an original...

I agree with you that it's still a bargain compared to high-end art prices...

 

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http://www.gothamdreamcars.com/

I don't know about a grand a day for a Quatroporte. No 250 GTO on here either.


_J

 

George Dyer from Hillsboro, California, who drove Porsche Carrera RSRs in IMSA?

Jack

 

You have the right family (Hillsborough CA), but you are thinking of the son. George Dyer Senior owned the GTO. George Dyer the son raced successfully (won Sebring at least once and I believe almost twice in RSR).

Max