A Ferrari that was auctioned off for $48.4 million on September 1 and 2 in Monterey has broken the record for a most valuable car ever sold, the auction company reported.
RM Sotheby’s held the auction over On August 24 and 25 in conjunction with Monterey Car Week, with the highlight being the sale of the 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO. The company said the car, with chassis no. 3413 GT, is considered the “holy grail” of the collector car world.
Bidding opened at an “unprecedented” $35.5 million, and three collectors competed for the car over the phone, according to the auction company. It was sold within 10 minutes, and the bidders moved in million-dollar increments.
“There were cheers and applause when five-time Le Mans winner Derek Bell stepped out of the car after driving it across the auction block in front of an overflowing salesroom,” RM Sotheby’s said in a news release.
The car formerly belonged to businessman and Ferrari enthusiast Gregory Whitten, who was the chief architect of Office applications at Microsoft and is now chairman of Numerix LLC.
The previous record for a most expensive car sold at an auction was over $10 million less than the Ferrari, according to the auction company.
The two-day auction attracted bidders from 37 countries and garnered nearly $158 million in sales.
