Ferraris take top 3 lots in $41.8 million auction

PanARMENIAN.Net - Ferraris led by a 625 TRC Spider took the top three lots in a $41.8 million auction as the Italian maker continues to attract classic-car investors, Bloomberg reports.

The Spider, raced in California during the 1950s, was one of 22 classic Ferraris offered by RM Auctions in Monaco in a two-day weekend event. It sold for 5 million euros ($6.5 million) including fees to a telephone buyer against multiple underbidders.

Ferrari SpA remains the top brand for both established collectors and wealthy individuals looking to diversify their investments. New buyers appreciate the security of a big carmaker that still exists, said dealers.

“Ferrari trumps all other names in terms of prestige and liquidity,” the Geneva-based auto adviser Simon Kidston said in an interview before the sale. “If you have a good car that’s priced correctly, you can find a buyer within hours.”

The 1957 V-12 had been purchased new in 1957 by the West Coast-based Ferrari dealer and racer John van Neumann. Restored in the 1980s, after losing its original engine, the car had been valued at 3 million euros to 3.7 million euros in an event timed to coincide with the biannual Grand Prix de Monaco Historique.

The auction, featuring 94 cars, raised 32.4 million euros, slightly below the 33 million euros achieved at the company’s inaugural event in 2010, RM said. The event had a sell-through rate of 87 percent by volume, said the Canadian-based company.

Among other “prancing horse” classics to sell, a 1966 Ferrari 206 S Dino Spyder and a 225 Sport Spyder “Tuboscocca,” dating from 1952, each made 2.5 million euros.