This fabulous-looking 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa was sold by RM-Sotheby’s “Ferrari Legend and Passion” auction at the famous Fiorano track in mid-May for a record 9 million euros (just over $12 million, depending on exchange rates). It went to an unidentified American buyer, with the money going to its equally anonymous Japanese seller.
The deal was done via telephone to beat three other bidders, and far exceeded the 7 million euros paid for a similar car at last year’s auction.
The car, its sensual shape courtesy of ace-stylist Sergio Scaglietti and a 3-liter V-12 by Carlo Chiti, was the fourth of the 22 TRs built at Maranello and Scaglietti’s Carrozzeria in Modena, and carried the chassis number 0714. At the auction, the 250 TR was resplendent in black with a red nose, the colors in which it raced, but it did not have an illustrious motor sport career. Its best placing was 4th in the 1958 1000-Kms of Buenos Aires, driven by Piero Drogo, who campaigned the car for some time in South America, and Sergio Gonzalez.
Even bigger money is paid for the TRs that competed at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. One is alleged to have sold privately in 2007 for $15 million.
Big money alright, but even so, buyers and sellers were playing their cards close to their chest at Fiorano this year. So much so that a Ferrari 330 P4 that came 2nd in the 1967 Le Mans failed to sell at 7.25 million euros.
