250 GTO 3729 GT Mecum Auction in January, 2026.

For 3729GT, I'd say $5M less than the last price paid for 3505GT - also a RHD with a "funny" color but with its original engine and Brands Hatch/Tourist Trophy overall wins.

 

4293GT: raced four times, finished all the races on the podium - two overall wins at Zolder and Spa, two class wins at Le Mans (2nd OA) and Reims (3rd OA).

5571GT: Won the Daytona 2000 Km and it's a Sebring class winner. First of the 3 GTO/64 variants.

 

Only two I could remember off the top of my head, #3223GT, 3647GT, 3705GT, 3757GT, 3765LM, 3987GT, 4115GT, 4153GT, 4219GT, 4293GT, 4399GT, 4561SA, 5111GT, 5571GT, 5573 and 5575GT all have appeal for different reasons but those two listed especially thanks to their originality and race history, a rare combination, and if were a bored cashed up billionaire I would easily shell out enough to pay $70mm, for the right car.

One notes that 330P4 #0856 (2020) and 250TR59 #0774TR (2022) have both apparently topped $70 million, before that GTO #4153GT is rumoured to have gone for $65mm (2018). I am also confident #0704TR will have cost the McAllisters somewhere in that region in 2024. IF you want the best and there is only one available, why not, a Gulfstream G650 or a 300 foot launch or a pad in New York, London or Los Angeles will be more let alone a museum quality van Gogh or Basquiat. #3729GT isn't the best and I am confident with this many collectors aging out and selling stock, maybe $50mm is more market than $70 but still the Birkenstocks and Jon Goodwin don't have GTOs let alone anyone who sold their bitcoin at the peak and now has........
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The issue seems to be that 3729 is not "the best" and has not been the "only one available".

The Birkenstocks and Goodwins of the world - those with the means and tastes to want and acquire a GTO - have had ample opportunity, while the car has been not so quietly on the market for some time now. Seems telling...

 

If you are a billionaire, only the best ought to make do. So why buy 2nd or 3rd, best? No sense at all.

Even in my very infinitesimal world, I might try for the best, if not, 'mediocrity', a very ugly word, rears its ugly head.

But that, is a very large choice amongst 'aficionados', otherwise all auctions would disappear. There is one for every pocket and every taste (or lack thereof).
That is the reason there are vintage car salesmen, and there also are 'top of the notch', vintage car Dealers.
Just as buying a diamond at a pawnshop, or at Bulgari, behind closed doors, and after hours.

Regards, Alberto

 

To me it depends on what you want to do with the car. If it’s to show and for prestige etc maybe you want the top tier car. But, if you want it to drive a bunch and even track I think there’d be comfort in having less cash committed to the endeavor. There’s “tool room” cars and real ones with modern duplicate engines in them doing some of that so it could be a reason to buy a “lesser” car. Perhaps even as a second GTO for the right buyer.

There are also guys with maybe $2-300m that would like the experience but a $70m car isn’t logical for their net worth, but half price would certainly be more interesting to more buyers.

 

if I were to buy a GTO, I would buy the best and I would race the pants off of it. After all, they were all race cars, and were not mollycoddled through their life.
No substitutions allowed.
As a for instance, I find it pathetic that the real bread van is not raced.
And, I would feel like a cheat bringing tool room copies to a race track, and tell everybody that this is the real McCoy. Disgusting

 

These cars are now important parts of automotive history so preserving them for future generations makes more sense to most people than trying to actually race them like they did in period where a crash and fire loses it for good. A tool room copy will provide the same if not better (and more period-correct) experience as the 50+ year old originals, which have been used and some crashed and chassis no longer like new.

 

For a while it had engine 3757 from a 250SWB, then later in Neil Corner's ownership, around 1969, a 250GT period number motor built to GTO spec by Bob Houghton. Maybe thats the spare with the car now. I saw this car in service at Bob Houghton's in 2023

 

Addendum, correction, 3757 was from the other GTO #3757, followed by SWB engine 2735, then the Houghton engine, then the Classiche one.

 

FWIW because of opportunity costs. Someone noted on a Reddit thread the other day that many if not most fly private jets for no reason other than it leaves when you get to the airport and for that class time is money. So if #3729GT was the first or especially only GTO available to you when you wanted one, why not. You can always trade up if and when a better one becomes available. I mean someone paid $140 million for the Uhlenhaut Mercedes-Benz Coupe, another person paid $300mm for a de Kooning painting and so on. Some of the spending is clearly a glorified pi$$ing contest.

 

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Conversely, current and future generations ought to see these cars in action.

It's really cool to see a parked gto. It's a completely different experience to see on one the track. So if we are making the argument that generations should experience these cars, then having these race on the track is certainly the epitome of that experience.

I was lucky to have seen these race in the late 90s/early 00s and it's just on another level than when I see them at pebble or parked at the breakers.

 

Agreed, but I guess I should have specified to not run them in anger wheel to wheel with actual risk of crash and burn. My favorite automotive museum is the Simeone Museum and I was fortunate to see a demo day and a number of cars not just be fired up but actually drive around in the back. It was not a huge space for getting up to speed, but definitely better than static display as you say. The Barber Motorsports race track had a historics event I used to go to and they would take out their bikes and cars and put them on the actual track for similar demo display in action. They had a replica NART Surtees F1 car they took on the track, which was also cool.

 

Mecum just announced the consignment of the Phil and Martha Bachman Ferrari Collection for Kissimmee in January. I wonder how much of that announcement was driven by the 250 GTO consignment. If that’s the case, DM could see a solid return on his investment if he’s purchased 3729GT and it ends up not selling.

 

That is a lot of heavy iron to hit the market at one time--let alone at a single auction.

 

AND in mostly a single color to

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- PB

 

It is my understanding that many of the cars in that collection of the examples of the last car produced of a particular range? Its going to be very interesting to see where the numbers are considering the 'highly personal" spec of many of the cars.