A one-of-a-kind short-wheelbase Ferrari 250GT is expected to attract a huge amount of attention when it crosses the block at Gooding & Company’s Pebble Beach auction on 15-16 August, partly due to its unique styling, but also as a result of its pre-sale estimate – $14,000,000-16,000,000.
The 1962 Berlinetta Speciale was once owned by renowned designer Nuccio Bertone, and features a one-off body paying homage to the Maranello firm’s Championship-winning 1961 Grand Prix car. The road car was one of the first to be penned by Giorgetto Giugiaro, who was working for Bertone at the time.
While the Blu Notte Metallizzato exterior was unmistakably Ferrari 250, the interior was 100% Bertone, finished with a sea of burgundy hide with matching dashboard, in a more opulent style than standard SWB Berlinettas.
Despite being involved in its design, Nuccio Bertone had sold the car to a Milanese parts supplier little more than a year after its completion. It passed through several further owners between 1963-’66, before being bought by Peter Civati in 1967, who had the car shipped out to California. By 1980, the Ferrari was in the hands of Lorenzo Zambrano, and it remained the jewell in his collection for more than 30 years.
During its early years, the Speciale was displayed at the Geneva Auto Salon, the Biscaretti di Rufa Museum and the Torino Auto Show, while its concours career began with Zambrano in 1982 and an appearance at Pebble Beach. Between 1982-’07, it was entered at the event a further two times, collecting the Luigi Chinetti Memorial Trophy in 1997.
The car also won Best of Show first at the FCA National Concours at Watkins Glen in 1996, and at the Louis Vuitton Concours d’Elegance in Paris a year later.
It will now be offered at public auction for the first time in the car’s history.
