‘62 GTO 3765 to be auctioned at Sotheby’s NYC November 13.

Marcel, can to say if you think this is a market price?

Thx

 

I think more the former than the latter.

 

When discussing the Terms of Business, the auctioneer mentioned a straight 10% Buyer’s Premium (i.e. with zero mention of the far more typical 12.5% on the first $200,000, or 12% on the first $250,000). Therefore, the all-in price was $51,700,000 (not $51,705,000).

 

It’s an interesting exercise, but…especially over the past few years…inflation has not affected “GTO buyers” the same way it has affected the economy in general or the average person in particular.

Paychecks don’t go as far as they used to…but dividends are nearly limitless for some.

Do the same comparison, but use the Forbes List delta instead of inflation…

Automobiles continue to be a terrible investment. Buy low, sell high hasn’t been a thing for a LONG time with the really good cars.

 

No guarantee.

 

New York Times article:

By Julia Halperin

Nov. 13, 2023
Updated 10:09 p.m. ET

A bright red Ferrari with a storied history sold for $51.7 million, with buyer’s fees, on Monday, becoming the most expensive automobile from that Italian carmaker ever sold at auction. The price nevertheless fell short of the auction house’s expectations at a time when the once red-hot market for collectibles has begun to cool amid geopolitical uncertainty and rising interest rates.

RM Sotheby’s, the automobile seller in which Sotheby’s bought a controlling stake in 2022, offered the 1962 Ferrari 330 LM/250 GTO by Scaglietti with an unpublished estimate of $60 million. Two bidders drove the price to $47 million before auction-house fees. (RM Sotheby’s declined to give any information about the buyer.)

Sotheby’s promoted the car as a luxury object, offering it in a stand-alone sale during its marquee fall auctions of fine art in New York. To drive the point home, the auctioneer, Oliver Barker — who is also chairman of Sotheby’s Europe — presided over the proceedings at Sotheby’s York Avenue headquarters, where the car was parked in front of a painting by the contemporary art star Jonas Wood.

There are only 36 Ferrari 250 GTOs in existence, produced between 1962 and 1964. Owners of the car instantly become members of an exclusive club that includes the fashion designer Ralph Lauren and Nick Mason, the drummer for Pink Floyd.

RM Sotheby’s described this particular car as “one of one.” Although it looks almost identical to a 250 GTO, it was originally configured as a 330 LM, an even rarer car with a slightly larger engine. Converted into a 250 GTO later in 1962, it is the only one ever raced by Scuderia Ferrari, the carmaker’s racing division. Ferrari sold it to a Sicilian surgeon in 1964 for $6,000.

The car, known as Chassis number 3765, failed to approach the current auction record for a classic car, which was set last year when RM Sotheby’s sold a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe for €135 million, or about $144 million today. (A Ferrari 250 GTO was reported to have sold privately in 2016 for more than $70 million.)

The $51.7 million price is still a considerable markup from the roughly $500,000 it sold for when it last changed hands in 1985 — or $1.4 million today — according to Gord Duff, RM Sotheby’s global head of auctions. An RM Sotheby’s spokesman confirmed the seller was Jim Jaeger, an Ohio-based collector and co-founder of a radar detection business.

Simon Kidston, a Geneva-based classic car dealer, said that the Chassis number 3765’s unique history may have hurt more than it helped. “It’s a great car. I don’t think, unfortunately, that everybody understands it,” he said. “In a market where appearances are very important and people like the comfort of belonging to a group of like-minded owners, anything that needs explaining is always a little bit more of a challenge to sell.”

 

This:
"........anything that needs explaining is always a little bit more of a challenge to sell."

As I've said before: Never compromise, never, especially not at this level.

Marcel Massini

 

I took the number straight from RM's site. The site also had the 10%/12%/250k BP setup listed before the sale, reinforcing that. Not sure if the site or Oliver is correct here; regardless I don't think RM and the buyer will have too much of a squabble over $5,000 on a $51,700,000 purchase!

And now to pick on the NYT, because automotive news coverage from any broader media outlet is always riddled with errors:

The estimate was published as "In Excess of $60,000,000 USD" on the lot page before the sale.

I'll never understand why people, let alone journalists, convert past nominal figures using *today's* exchange rates, even if it was only 18 months ago. The actual USD equivalent was $141,868,000 then (which is $149,388,000 adjusted for inflation).

What sale is she talking about here? I have a feeling she is referencing the 2018* sale that was under* $70m.

 

I have to say, that question aside, I was pleasantly surprised.
The expectation I have for every piece I read on GTOs is it will be riddled with errors.
This is the most error-free and the closest to 'no marks with the red editor's pen' I've ever read from a newspaper or magazine in 30+ years.

 

Last night the car was clearly identified as a 330 LM/250 GTO.

Marcel Massini

Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Another pic from last night.

Marcel Massini

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Most probably the one that took place 23 April 2018.
Julia has the year wrong.

Marcel Massini

 

The price achieved (US$ 51.7 M all in) is market correct for what it really is: a 330 LM that looks like a 250 GTO Series One with a non-matching engine and not red book certified.
People should stop dreaming and become a bit more realistic.

Marcel Massini

 

Airplane/ Flying High is arguably the greatest movie ever made!

 

Dissapointing result!

 

Suggest THIS thread:

https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/62-gto-3765-to-be-auctioned-at-sothebys-nyc-november-13.681615/page-11

Marcel Massini

 

Disagree.
It's a 330 LM with a 250 GTO body, non matching engine and not red book certified.
50 M bucks is pretty good for such a car.
It's not a Cy Twombly or a Basquiat, it's just a used car. Get realistic.

Marcel Massini

 

Great result. Prove any GTO, or any Ferrari, has sold for more.

 

expected it to go for much higher tbh, maybe I got caught up in the marketing of it and general pre-auction hype

 

Mr. Kidston, precisely boiled the entire context down with less than a full sentence.

The result hit my "well sold" amount - not that my opinion has impact.

I've had several conversations with individuals holding the firepower to necessary purchase 3765. My take away from these gentlemen is that the car is fantastic, has a great story (maybe a bit too sticky) and we're all better for the car moving from one collector to the next. The marketing, regardless of how each of us perceives it, created one hell of a buzz, kept people in our little slice of the industry busy for a few months and welcomed a different audience to the Ferrari collector market.

The circle of life is yet again perpetuated.

Now, who bought it!!??

 

I find it interesting that, at the end of the day, after all the pluses and minuses that this car doesn't share with the rest of the 250 GTO production, the eventual sale price fell right within the range that one would expect a normal 250 GTO to sell for. The fact that Ferrari raced only this one didn't pump the price into the 70's, and the fact that this car is kind of a mutt - a 'Greatest Hits' compilation of early 1960's Ferrari rather than a 'pure' 250 GTO - didn't dunk the price down into the 30's.

What would it take for this car to be red book certified? Is it even possible today?

 

Well, we’re all dying to know what “Simon says.”

 

I guess Classiche will supply the owner a new engine stamped with the Classiche seal. As if that makes it more original.

 

Same, I think we all expected to see that 60mm estimate reached or surpassed. The prices will still be high, but I don't expectto see a 70mm GTO auction sale before 2030