On Thursday night, at the Bonhams Quail Lodge auction in Carmel, California, a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO Berlinetta sold for a world-record price of $38,115,000. It took less than two minutes for the car to shoot from a $10 million bid to a $34.65 million bid.
As impressive as that is, however, car experts expected it to sell for much higher. “Spare another $500,000?” auctioneer Robert Brooks asked the audience. The response, however, was lukewarm, and the bidding progressed in $100,000 increments before finally settling on $34.65 million, with another 10% added on in buyer’s fees.
Although the car didn’t meet expectations, it still set records, and it’s hard to see $34.65 million as a bargain. The previous record was held by a Mercedes W196 which was auctioned off in England last year for around $30 million.
Robert Brooks, the chairman of Bonhams, said: “It’s been a genuine privilege to represent this outstanding car and we are absolutely delighted with today’s results. We’ve always maintained that we would exceed the current world record and that the car would bring between $30 million and $40 million and today the GTO did just that.”
Read more about the story at The New York Times.
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