Is The World Really In Recession??

[GTAm]

Ferrari smashes auction record

A Ferrari Testa Rossa has become the most expensive car ever to be sold at auction.

The 1957 racing car made 8.2 million euros (£7.24m), smashing the previous record of 7.04m euros (£6.22m) paid by DJ Chris Evans for a 250 California Spyder last year.

Despite the record sum, which was more than double the total sales at the annual Leggione e Passione auction in Maranello, Italy, there were also signs that the credit crunch is biting.

In total, 11 other high-profile cars failed to reach their reserve prices, including the 1967 330 P4 racer that had been touted as the star of the show, and a Monaco Grand Prix-winning Maserati 250F.

The 5m euros (£4.42m) bid for the P4, which Ferrari had turned into its Can-Am racer in the late 1960s, was at least £1.8m short of the reserve.

The 1.35m euros (£1.19m) offered for the ex-Stirling Moss 250F was well also below expectations.

At one point, five consecutive cars were passed at the auction – including a 4m euro (£3.53m) bid for a 1962 250GT short-wheelbase California – while two other Ferraris were withdrawn from sale at the last minute.

One of the bargains of the sale was an ex-Alain Prost 641/2 Formula One car, which sold for 320,000 euros (£282,000).

“They’ll be disappointed with this. It’s a disastrous auction,” one collector said after the event. “Everybody’s still expecting prices from before the crisis, but this showed they’re down 30 or 40 per cent.”

Source - http://www.autocar.co.uk/Home.aspx

Edited May 18, 2009 by GTAm

[KLM]

That Testa is sexy; ALMOST as sexy as the 250 GT California. I saw footage of it on TV last night and it looked bloody hot. I can't believe the 641/2 didn't fetch a higher price, considering the fact that it is considered one of the most beautiful F1 cars of all time (an example can be found in the New York Museum of Modern Art. No lie). The 330 P4 is another sex-on-wheels Ferrari, so it would be nice to have had a few million USD spare to pick it up.