Wrecked body of a Ferrari that caught fire during 1960s race sells for £1.5 million – nearly £50 MILLION less than what it would be worth in good condition
The wreckage of a Ferrari that caught fire during a race in the 1960s has been sold for £1.5 million.
Others of its kind in good condition have been valued at $60 million.
The 1954 Ferrari 500 Mondial Spider Series I was the second of 13 cars built with the Pininfarina spider frame, according to The Telegraph.
The ruins remained untouched for about 40 years before a hurricane in 2004 destroyed the shed in which it had been hiding with 19 other Ferraris.
The wreck has been preserved in its fire-damaged condition and still has its original chassis plate, gearbox, rear axle corners and 3.0 liter Tipo 119 Lampredi inline-four engine.
The wrecked body of a Ferrari that went up in flames during a 1960s race has been sold for £1.5 million
The 1954 Ferrari 500 Mondial Spider Series I was the second of 13 cars built with Pininfarina’s iconic Spider frame
Others of its kind in good condition have been valued at $60 million
The ruins remained untouched for about 40 years before a hurricane in 2004 destroyed the shed in which it had been hiding with 19 other Ferraris.
The car was sold at an RM Sotheby auction during Monterey Car Week to a collector in Monterey, California for approximately £1.5 million.
It was part of the ‘Lost and Found Collection’ and the other 19 cars found in the collection were also marketed.
It is believed that the lucky buyer wants to restore the Ferrari so that it can race again.
It comes as New York’s Sotheby’s is set to sell a 1962 250 Ferrari GTO this fall for an estimated $60 million, one of only 34 ever made.
The race car, which will be up for grabs as part of the auction houses’ big sales series, is one of two GTO models raced by Ferrari’s own team, Scuderia Ferrari.
The wrecked car has retained many of its original factory details
The car was sold at an RM Sotheby auction during Monterey Car Week to a collector in Monterey, California for $1,875,000 (£1.5 million).
It is believed that the lucky buyer wants to restore the Ferrari to its former glory so that it can race again
GTO models are coveted by classic car collectors because of their history, Gord Duff, head of global auctions for RM Sotheby’s, told the Wall Street Journal.
With an asking price of about $60 million, the car had initially sold for $6,000 in 1964, the equivalent of about $59,000 today.
In 1985, it was then bought for about $500,000, about $1.4 million today, by Ohio man Jim Jaeger, 75.
Jaeger told the outlet that he was looking for the ultimate Ferrari in the 1980s and realized he wanted a GTO.