AS YOU may well have noticed, we're partial to a nice classic Ferrari here at Drive Towers, and they don't come much nicer than the 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 which is heading to auction later this year at RM Sotheby's.
This particular 275 has serious pedigree: its original owner was none other than the 'King of Cool' himself, late motoring-mad movie star Steve McQueen - a major reason why Sotheby's are expecting it to fetch around between £4m to £5.6m when it goes under the hammer at its sale coinciding with Monterey Car Week in California on August 18 and 19.
The car previously sold for just over £6m in 2014, a record back in those more economically stable times.
The 275 GTB/4 by Scaglietti is already considered one of the most desirable classic Ferraris ever made, but McQueen owned the car for more than four years and Ferrari have since spent considerable time and effort restoring it to its original specification: Ferrari Classiche, their in-house restoration service, worked on this magnificent machine for three years between 2010 and 2013 to ensure that the new owner will be getting this 275 GTB/4 in exactly the same condition as Steve McQueen did back in 1967.
Following its painstaking restoration, the car has been on display at Ferrari’s official museum in Maranello, and has made appearances at the Villa d’Este Concorso d’Eleganza.
Now, if that's whet your appetite for classic Italian supercars, you'll be ready to feast your eyes upon a veritable motherlode of mouth-watering Maranello metal that's coming up for auction next month via RM Sothebys.
That image might look like someone's cherished collection of toy Ferraris, but in fact the 14 cars depicted are very much the real deal: they make up the Aurora Collection, 68-years' worth of significant Ferraris which have been privately owned in Sweden for many decades without being displayed or shown at any event.
Described as "an exciting opportunity for any serious collector" by Sotheby's, the entire collection is being offered without reserve at their Villa Erba auction on May 20. The auctioneers also advise that "many examples boast exceptional histories and low mileage, making them rare finds in the marketplace".
Spanning nearly seven decades of automotive history, The Aurora Collection is offered entirely without reserve at RM Sotheby's Villa Erba. The single-owner collection features a mix of historic and modern Ferraris, as well as a 300 SL Gullwing. Details: https://t.co/DXrsjnX3xH pic.twitter.com/CRk9Z4iT1Q
— RM Sotheby's (@rmsothebys) April 12, 2023
If you were to twist my arm and force me to choose just one of these fine, ludicrously valuable machines to drive away in, it would surely have to be the beautiful 1961 Ferrari 250 GT Cabriolet Series II by Pininfarina.
Why? Well, apart from "just look at it!", quite simply it's the closest match to the 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California featured in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, the film which first gave me my appreciation for vintage Ferraris.
This particular car was delivered new to Luigi Chinetti Motors in Rome and retains its matching-numbers body, chassis and engine: it's number 145 out of the 200 examples of this model that were built and was awarded Ferrari Classiche certification in February 2013.
"Che bella", indeed. Now, all I need to do is come up with a cool £1.2m to match its estimated value – please send all donations to the usual address.
View the entire Aurora collection now at rmsothebys.com/en/home/lots/ve23.
