The 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO - The Most Expensive Automobile Ever Sold, at $38,115,000

[DonRocks]

There is an incidence of a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO selling for $38,115,000, making it the most expensive automobile ever sold at auction:

Aug 16, 2014 - "Ferrari 250 GTO Smashes World Auction Record Fetching U.S. $38.1 Million" by Mike Hanlon on gizmag.com

Aug 15, 2014 - "1962 Ferrari 250 GTO Hits Record $38 Million Sale at Bonhams' Monterey Auction" by Chris Bruce on autoblog.com

I wonder what it is about this particular car that brings such high auction value - obviously, all it takes is two bidders, but there must be something special about it (other than being titanically awesome, of course).

Do not be surprised to see this record broken in the very near future.

[Al Dente]

I should auction off my 2009 Honda. It's approximately 0.1% as cool as a Ferrari, therefore I should have $38k coming my way!

[TedE]

I wonder what it is about this particular car that brings such high auction value - obviously, all it takes is two bidders, but there must be something special about it (other than being titanically awesome, of course).

1) It's a Ferrari

2) It's a racing Ferrari with a distinguished career from the golden age of the marque

3) They made less than 40 of them, and some number less than that remain in restored condition

4) It's fucking gorgeous

After that it basically comes down to rich guy oneupmanship (one of them reportedly changed hands privately for $52 million prior to this sale).  Just a small deviation in the history of a car (which races it won with which famous racer behind the wheel, etc.) can swing the sale price to astounding extremes. Similar reason why someone paid north of $300M for a piece of Post-Impressionism.  Name a collecting hobby and somebody will pay ridiculously amounts of money for the "best of the best", whoever-the-hell determines that notwithstanding.

[DonRocks]

1) It's a Ferrari

2) It's a racing Ferrari with a distinguished career from the golden age of the marque

3) They made less than 40 of them, and some number less than that remain in restored condition

4) It's fucking gorgeous

After that it basically comes down to rich guy oneupmanship (one of them reportedly changed hands privately for $52 million prior to this sale).  Just a small deviation in the history of a car (which races it won with which famous racer behind the wheel, etc.) can swing the sale price to astounding extremes. Similar reason why someone paid north of $300M for a piece of Post-Impressionism.  Name a collecting hobby and somebody will pay ridiculously amounts of money for the "best of the best", whoever-the-hell determines that notwithstanding.

What's even more amazing is that the car was in a fatal accident, and rebuilt by the factory.

Aug 15, 2015 - "Classic Ferrari Once Involved in a Fatal Accident Becomes Most Expensive Car Ever After Selling for $38.1 Million" on dailymail.co.uk

[TedE]

What's even more amazing is that the car was in a fatal accident, and rebuilt by the factory.

Aug 15, 2014 - "Classic Ferrari Once Involved in a Fatal Accident Becomes Most Expensive Car Ever After Selling for $38.1 Million" on dailymail.co.uk

Pretty much all of the race chassis from that era were rebuilt by the factory at some point, whether because it was crashed or to replace or upgrade major components.  These were working cars, and they were tinkered with constantly in pursuit of performance; no two are the same,  And if they survived this long without serious damage somebody has probably done a frame off restoration which is basically the same thing.  Sometimes you can pay the manufacturer to do it for you so that you can claim it was still "factory rebuilt" (the restoration facility for Mercedes maintains all of the tooling for parts that haven't been manufactured for production in decades).

Having even a semi-famous person die in a car undoubtedly increases it's value for the same macabre reason that people assign to any mundane object linked to celebrity.  What is worth more: a "normal" Porsche 550 Spyder, or the one that James Dean died in?