Wrecked shell of a Ferrari that burst into flames during 1960s race sells for £1.5million – nearly £50MILLION less than what it would be worth in good condition
- The 1954 Ferrari 500 Mondial Spider Series was left untouched for 40 years
- Read: Sotheby’s NYC will sell 1962 Ferrari GTO for an estimated $60 MILLION
The wrecked shell of a Ferrari that burst into flames during a 1960s race has sold for £1.5million.
Others of its kind in good condition have been valued at an estimated $60million.
The 1954 Ferrari 500 Mondial Spider Series I was the second of 13 cars built with the Pininfarina spider framework, according to The Telegraph.
The ruins were left untouched for around 40 years before a 2004 hurricane destroyed the barn it was hiding in with 19 other Ferraris.
The wrecked vehicle has been preserved in its fire-damaged condition and still has its original chassis plate, gearbox, rear axle corners, and 3.0 litre Tipo 119 Lampredi inline-four engine.
The wrecked shell of a Ferrari that burst into flames during a 1960s race has sold for £1.5million
The 1954 Ferrari 500 Mondial Spider Series I was the second of 13 cars built with the Pininfarina iconic spider framework
Others of its kind in good condition have been valued at an estimated $60million
The ruins were left untouched for around 40 years before a 2004 hurricane destroyed the barn it was hiding in with 19 other Ferraris
The car was sold to a collector in Monterey, California, during Monterey Car Week at an RM Sotheby auction for around £1.5 million.
It was a part of the ‘Lost and Found Collection,’ and the other 19 cars found in the collection were also put on the market.
It is believed that the lucky buyer wants to restore the Ferrari so it can be in races again.
It comes as Sotheby’s in New York is set to sell a 1962 250 Ferrari GTO for an estimated $60 million this fall, which is one of only 34 ever made.
The race car, which is due to go up for grabs as part of the auction houses major fall sales series, is one of two GTO models raced by Ferrari’s own team, Scuderia Ferrari.
The wrecked car has still managed to maintain a lot of its original factory details
The car was sold to a collector in Monterey, California, during Monterey Car Week at an RM Sotheby auction for $1,875,000 (£1.5 million)
It is believed that the lucky buyer wants to restore the Ferrari to its former glory, so it is able to be in races again
GTO models are coveted by collectors of classic cars due to their history, Gord Duff, head of global auctions for RM Sotheby’s told the Wall Street Journal.
With an asking price of around $60 million, the car had initially sold for $6,000 in 1964, the equivalent to around $59,000 today.
In 1985, it was then purchased for around $500,000, around $1.4 million tocay, by Ohio man Jim Jaeger, 75.
Jaeger told the outlet he had been looking for the ultimate Ferrari during the 1980s and realized that he wanted a GTO.
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