A 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO will headline the 2014 Bonhams Quail Lodge Auction, scheduled for Friday, August 15th at the Quail Lodge and Golf Club in Carmel Valley, California. Offered at no reserve, the GTO will undoubtedly become the most valuable automobile ever sold at auction when it crosses the block during Monterey Classic Car Week.
Chassis number 3851 GT was built on September 11, 1962, the 19th of 36 250 GTO Berlinettas built. It was delivered new to the leading French racing driver Jo Schlesser, to be co-driven by himself and French ski champion Henri Oreiller in the 1962 Tour de France. The pair finished 2nd overall behind the Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta of Andre Simon and Maurice Dupeyron.
The car was then crashed during a race at Montlhery Autodrome, just south of Paris, France. It was repaired immediately by Ferrari in Italy and was sold to Italian gentleman driver Paolo Colombo in time for the start of the 1963 competition season. At the time of ‘3851 GT’s re-emergence the latter half of Ferrari 250 GTO production was still in full swing at Maranello and in the Scaglietti body plant in Modena. Paolo Colombo enjoyed a very successful season in ‘against-the-clock’ Italian national mountain-climb events, before selling it to Ernesto Prinoth for 1964. He then used the car widely in both mountain-climbs and circuit races, again with fine results.
In 1965 a young Fabrizio Violati bought the aging GTO. He would recall, “I saved the car from scrap and hid it from my parents. I only drove it at night so nobody would see me.”
For almost 40 more years, Fabrizio Violati then enjoyed his Ferrari 250 GTO in classic car and historic racing events – and it became one of the last 250 GTOs to compete regularly right into the 2000s, maintained in Violati’s Maranello Rosso Collection until his death in 2010.
Bonhams hold the current world record for the most valuable motor vehicle ever sold at public auction with the 1954 Mercedes-Benz W196 that sold for £19,601,500 (US$29,650,095, €22,701,864) at their 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed sale. The ex-Fangio car beat the previous record of £10,086,400 set by a Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa in 2011.
For additional information, visit Bonhams.com/Quail.
[Source: Bonhams]
