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A 1962 Ferrari 330 LM/250 GTO by Scaglietti. Picture: SUPPLIED
A 1962 Ferrari 330 LM/250 GTO by Scaglietti. Picture: SUPPLIED

A 1962 Ferrari 330 LM/250 GTO by Scaglietti set a new auction record for Ferraris when it was sold for $51.7m (R968m) at an RM Sotheby’s auction in New York on November 13.

The racing car sold in less than 20 minutes to an unknown buyer and beat the previous auction record of $48.4m (R906m) for a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO road car in 2018. 

Jim Jaeger, a prominent collector in Ohio and co-founder of the company that came to manufacture Escort radars, owned the Ferrari 330 LM/250 GTO by Scaglietti for nearly four decades before this week’s sale.

The V12-engined Ferrari is the most expensive car sold on auction this year. The previous high was a 1967 Ferrari 412P Berlinetta that sold for $30.2m (R566m) on August 17.

Classic cars from the Italian stable have proven to be a blue-chip investment. According to Classic.com, 12 of the top 15 cars sold at auction this year were Ferraris.

The red car bears a No 7 racing livery and is notable for being the only Ferrari GTO originally powered by a 4l engine and the only factory GTO Tipo 1962 to have been raced by Scuderia Ferrari. In 1962 it took a class win and a second place overall at the Nürburgring 1,000km race. In 2012, it won the Best in Show award at the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance in Florida.

It is one of 34 GTOs built with Tipo 1962 coachwork.

The most expensive car sold at auction to date is a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe that took $142m (R2.7bn) in 2022.


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