One of 55 Ferrari 250 short wheelbase (SWB) models ever built has sold at a European auction for over USD $10,890,000 a record for any car ever sold at public auction. The beautiful car was bought by a UK-based Ferrari enthusiast and "radio personality," and his wife, a professional golfer. They both must be doing alright.
(From RM Auctions press release): Car enthusiasts and Ferrari collectors from across the globe descended on Maranello, Italy this past weekend for RM Auctions' second annual "Ferrari Leggenda e Passione" auction event to witness a new auction record established for a 1961 Ferrari California Spyder formerly owned by actor James Coburn. The rare car exceeded all expectations by selling for a world record auction price for a vintage car at auction in the amount of $10,894,900 U.S., surpassing the previous record set at Sotheby's Monaco in 1990 for a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO at $10,756,000 U.S. (Editing note --- James Coburn? I thought he drove a Lark ... No, forgive us, he smoked Larks (and did all their advertising in Japan, starting in the late 1960s, when very few American actors would "lower" themselves doing advertising outside the US. Boy, have times changed).
The annual RM Ferrari auction, held in association with Sotheby's, put under the hammer an 
unrivaled collection of historic Ferraris at the legendary home of Ferrari in Maranello, Italy. Among the attendees was one extremely well known Ferrari enthusiast, and British television and radio personality Chris Evans. Chris, accompanied by his wife, golf pro and writer Natasha Shishmanian, attended the Gala reception on Saturday, May 17th where he fell for the considerable charms of a black 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spyder. The following day, Chris made the successful bid for his dream machine, which will now take pride of place in his own celebrated collection and the honor of "the most valuable car sold in auction history." (End of press release). The car does not look too much unlike another two-seater of the same era, this one from the UK, from a company called AC. (Photo --- This most expensive Ferrari was once owned by actor James Coburn, seen below; the two Ferrari owners, both Coburn and Steve McQueen, were pallbearers at the funeral of action star Bruce Lee ... Small world, huh? Coburn was in some great movies, like the "Flint" spy spoof series of the '60s, the Magnificent Seven, 1960, and the Great Escape, 1963, where he appeared with McQueen. These are some Ferraris with heavy acting karma!).
Replacing their long wheelbase (LWB) California Spyder with a SWB version, which made for better-
handling and lightened the car's weight quite a bit, Ferrari designer Scaglietti showed a new Spyder California at the Geneva Show in 1960. Based on the 250 GT SWB, it also introduced disc brakes and a 280 hp version of the 250 V12. About 55 were built. (Photo --- UK radio personality and Ferrari collector Chris Adams stepped up in a big way and spent almost USD $11,000,000; witnesses say his wife did not attack him after he made the winning bid ... Lucky guy!).
The 250 models were a series of Ferrari sports cars built from the 1950s and into early 1960s. It was the company's most successful early line of vehicles, produced for over a decade from 1953 to 1964 and resulting in several variants for both road and track. The 250 was replaced by the 275 and the 330.
The most celebrated 250 is the 1962 250 GTO, a true supercar that spawned numerous imitators. Other 250 Ferraris closely-related to this record-setting sports car include the Lusso, Monza, Testa Rossa, GTO and the P and LM (LeMans) racing versions. Some of these cars are those which literally take your breath away when seen in person and in context, on either a race track or the 18th fairway at Pebble Beach's Concours d'Elegance. The long wheelbase (LWB) 250 GT theme was expanded with their 2+2 model 250 GT/E. That car was the first large production four-seat Ferrari (earlier four seaters were made in very small numbers).
Click below for more about the world record-breaking Ferrari California Spyder.
(Photo --- Steve McQueen's Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta Lusso on the road in Southern California before its sale at auction, where it brought USD $2.3 million; McQueen's son, Chad, says the car was not one of his dad's favorites).
Ferrari's GTO was the nastiest version of the car, the meanest pit bull in a junkyard full of wild dogs. But why are there two famous GTOs from the same time period?
Ferrari's name was already legend, and a new term, Tifosi, had to be coined to describe enthusiasts of the car worldwide. The other GTO came from the very prosaic Pontiac Division of General Motors, whose cars were known as "Grandma's car" until, that is, the team of Semon E. "Bunkie" Knudsen, Pete Estes and John DeLorean his the ground running for Pontiac as the division's general manager, chief engineer and assistant chief engineer in the late 1950s (DeLorean's previous job was as the chief engineer for Packard). (Photo --- Engine bay of a 1967 Pontiac GTO; not 12 cylinders, like the Ferrari has, but it was powerful enough ... only that stopping or turning these cars was impossible).
While the Ferrari GTO was being drooled over in Europe (and keep in mind that at this time in America 
there were only two or three car enthusiast magazines), John DeLorean, by then the chief engineer of Pontiac, enjoyed and appreciated many things about the Ferrari GTO, including its name. In 1963, DeLorean and his engineering staff, meeting at a GM test track/garage for one of their regular Saturday morning "bench racing sessions," shoe-horned a 389 cubic inch displacement V8 into the (then considered) compact Tempest/LeMans, and the Pontiac GTO was born. (Photo --- Steve McQueen's Lusso on the auction block ... and a brown one at that ... in August, 2007).
While everyone liked the name, they doubted it could be used. But some fact-checking by General Motors'
enormous, worldwide legal department turned up a bit if information which took even DeLorean by surprise, a shocking turnabout which could happen to any car company, tiny Ferrari or massive GM. Turns out Ferrari never registered or copyrighted the name "GTO" (which stands for Gran Turismo Omologato, which translates into "Grand Touring Homologated;" homologation is when a manufacturer wants to participate in certain racing series, the race sanctioning body insists that a certain number of the race are made as street cars, too; BMW's M1 is a good example). So anyone, not just Pontiac, was free to use the name GTO; because GM beat everyone else to the punch, using the name GTO for a car is reserved now and for the future the privilege of Ferrari and GM only.
Car & Driver magazine, in its March 1964 issue, featured a "road test" of a 1964 GTO with the optional Tri-Power (three two-barrel carburetors) version of the 6L/389cid V8 and four-speed transmission to be tested against a Ferrari GTO, but Ferrari never made it to the party with their GTO. (Photo --- The auction board while the record-breaking sale of the 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spyder was taking place; the car was deemed worth nearly USD $11 million ... Auction officials are still reportedly trying to get that guy driving the car out of it so the new owner can get it home).
The magazine ended up "testing" the Pontiac alone and recorded a then-unheard of 0-60 mph time (for a stock production car as opposed to an exotic sports car) of 4.6 seconds and a standing quarter-mile of 115 mph (185 km/h) in 13.1 seconds. The entire affair was a set-up, a phony from the beginning; whether or not Ferrari was ever even contacted by Pontiac or Car & Driver is unknown. The numbers presented by the Pontiac GTO were outrageous and unbelievable ... Because they weren't true. It was one of the most interesting periods in the relationship between the car enthusiast magazines and their owners (by virtue of their advertising support), the car-makers. The Ferrari GTO vs. Pontiac GTO event never really happened.
Incidentally, a replica of the 250 GT Spyder California was featured as the "untouchable" car owned by Cameron Frye's dad in the popular teen movie, Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Guitar and rock virtuoso Eric Clapton once owned a 250 GT Lusso. Steve McQueen's 250 GT Berlinetta Lusso was auctioned off by Christie's in August, 2007, for USD $2.3 million. The 250 GTO is also featured in the Xbox 360 game Project Gotham Racing 4.
My foster father, Jack Slottag, was Larry Perkins' co-driver of that 250 GTO 3223 at Daytona and Sebring. They won their class at the Daytona 24 Hours, but at Sebring Jack stacked the car on top of the sand bank at the hairpin on his first lap after taking over from Perkins. The car was not seriously damaged, but it was stuck in a very dangerous spot. Due to the rules, Jack would have had to dig it out himself -- with his hands, since there was no shovel on board -- or forfeit the race by requesting help. He chose the latter.
The car was sold shortly thereafter, ending its racing career and beginning its career as a collector's item -- which included a foldout in Road & Track magazine about a decade later. Jack retains the distinction of being the last person to drive #3223 "in anger".
Posted by: Kirby Palm | January 31, 2010 at 10:24 PM
Larry Perkins did not own Ferrari GTO, s/n 3223 GT, until January of 1964. Apologies to all for the mistake in my 4/7/09 note.
Larry Perkins
Posted by: Larry Perkins | July 01, 2009 at 10:25 AM
Hello, Steve, It appears that I'm a year late in catching up with Ferrari 250 prices. I stumbled on your website today (May 7, 2009) and was astonished to see the price on the SWB California. In light of this, it will be interesting to see what happens to GTO prices, to the extent that we'll be allowed to know about them. I owned and drove the first Ferrari GTO, S/N 3223 GT, from 1962 through late '66. It was a wonderful beast and a perfect winner, but I was thrilled to finally sell the poor old raced-out thing, with spares, for $3600. It is now (as are most of them), a properly-restored breathtaking beauty. And the price.......who knows? But it will always and inevitably eclipse that California!
One more comment: Thank you for a well-researched, well-written piece. I have read a great deal of "folklore" and rubbish about these cars, but your article pretty much tells the story as it really happened.
Best Regards,
Larry Perkins
Sculptor
303-471-6923
[email protected]
Posted by: Larry Perkins | May 07, 2009 at 01:32 PM