In a year where classic Ferrari prices have gone from strength to strength, it will come as no surprise that the Italian marque once again dominated the results of a Pebble Beach auction week in which almost $400,000,000-worth (£255,000,000) of metal crossed the block.
The biggest winner was a 1964 Ferrari 250LM Coupe, which sold at RM Sotheby’s for $17,600,000 (£11,235,000). It is the 23rd of just 32 examples ever built, and was originally bought by confectioner Ronald Fry, who campaigned the car successfully in period.
Despite Fry driving the car as much as possible – to the point that he received a medal of recognition for his outstanding achievements in racing by none other than Enzo Ferrari – he never had a major accident.
It was closely followed by a 250GT California SWB Spider, which fetched an impressive $16,830,000 (£10,700,000) at Gooding – just over its lower estimate. The auction marked the first time that the car had been offered for public sale since the 1960s.
The car is one of just 37 covered headlight, short-wheelbase examples, and has never been subject to an extensive restoration.
Rounding off the top three – all Ferrari 250s – was a Short-wheelbase Berlinetta Speciale, which made $16,500,000 (£10,500,000), half a million dollars over estimate.
The one-off Giugiaro masterpiece was once owned by renowned designer Nuccio Bertone, and paid homage to the Maranello firm’s Championship-winning 1961 Grand Prix car.
One of the few non-Ferrari lots to break into the top ten was a 1998 McLaren F1, which had been upgraded to LM specification by the factory – one of just two road examples to undergo the treatment.
The F1 sold for a massive $13,750,000 (£8,750,000) and followed hot on the heels of Rowan Atkinson’s example, which was widely reported to have been sold for in excess of £8m.
A Jaguar C-type Lightweight that came fourth at Le Mans in 1953 became the most expensive of its type to ever sell at auction when it made $13,200,000 (£8,425,000) at RM Sotheby's. The car is one of just three Lightweight examples, and one of the last C-types built.
In addition to racing at La Sarthe in 1953, the Jaguar was campaigned extensively by Ecurie Ecosse the following year, and had been fully restored in the team's blue livery.
The same price was achieved for a 1956 Ferrari 250GT Tour de France, which was a previous class winner at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.
Owned and raced by the legendary Marquis Alfonso de Portago, the 250GT is the fifth of only seven Scaglietti-bodied first-series competition berlinettas and placed first at the 1956 Tour de France Auto.
The final non-Italian entry in the list of top ten Pebble auction results was a Rothmans-liveried Porsche 956, which won Le Mans in 1982.
The former Ickx, Bell, Schuppan, Holbert and Haywood racer fetched more than a million dollars over its pre-sale upper estimate, with the final price being $10,120,000 (£6,460,000).
