During this year’s Classic Car Week in Monterey, 53 cars were sold at auction for prices above $1 million. Incredibly, 22 of those were cars built specifically for racing, and this group was led by a Gulf/Mirage Lightweight version of a 1968 Ford GT40 (P/1074) that set a world record for an American car sold at auction when it crossed the block at RM’s sale for $11,000,000. Apart from its natural heritage, some of the car’s record-shattering appeal may be that it served as a Solar Productions’ camera car during the filming of Steve McQueen’s epic 1971 film, Le Mans.
Bringing in the second-highest bid, also at RM’s auction, was a 1956 Ferrari 250 GT long wheelbase Berlinetta Tour de France model that sold for $6,710,000. This car, chassis 0585, is the first of only nine examples of the “14 louver” version of the 250 GT, and was originally purchased by American Tony Parravano then subsequently used by Disney Studios in its 1966 film The Love Bug. After a period of disuse, it was restored by David Cottingham’s DK Engineering in 1962 before being purchased at auction by a California collector who had kept it until this sale.
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