If money was no object and you want to splash out on a classic luxury car, then bidding on the this Ferrari 250 GTO in August is a must!
An example of the most famous and sought-after classic cars in the world, the Ferrari 250 GTO, is being sold at auction on August 14. With the market buoyant, it might even beat last year’s record price when one was sold in the US for $52 million (£30.5 million).
The 1962 250 GTO is said to have been in one family’s care for 49 years, from 1965 until now. It is being sold at the Bonhams Quail Lodge auction, which is part of the Monterey Peninsula Car Week in California from August 11-17, which includes events such as the famed Pebble Beach concours d’élégance and events at the nearby Laguna Seca racing circuit. This year, in addition to collections of mouth watering cars and displays of car culture, there are special events for owners of significant cars from Porsche and Lamborghini.
Such is the lure of the event among classic car enthusiasts and collectors that major auction houses all hold huge, high-profile sales during Car Week.
The 250 GTO was designed to race and the O of its designation stands for “omologato” or homologation special. The competition rules stipulated that 100 examples had to be built, although Ferrari somehow got away with making only 39 of them.
The Maranello Rosso Collection car, chassis number 3851 GT, was the 19th 250 GTO Berlinetta in sequence and was completed on September 11, 1962. It was delivered to the French racer Jo Schlesser, to be co-driven by himself and French skiing champion Henri Oreiller in the 1962 Tour de France Automobile road race. The pair challenged for victory and finished second overall. The car was then crashed during a race at Montlhery and was returned to Maranello for repair, before being sold to Italian gentleman driver Paolo Colombo before the 1963 racing season.
The last couple of weeks we have shown you the luxury cars that are coming out in the future and the ones that are hitting the market now.
Today we thought we would take you back in time and look at the classic cars that define cool, style and speed!
We’ve overheard people say they don’t care what kind of car they drive as long as it gets them from Point A to Point B. Those people are liars. Who wouldn’t want to own a car that turns more heads than a bikini car wash? Maybe these guys have only driven used jalopies and don’t know anything else. Well, these are the cars they should know.
Anything attached to Carroll Shelby’s name is immediately worth your time. With an insane power-to-weight ratio, the Shelby 427 Cobra has a bit more giddyup than your Corolla. Plus, the hundreds of thousands of dollars you’d pay for one will seem like chump change compared to the $5.5 million shelled out for the ’66 Shelby 427 Cobra Super Snake.
Whether you pronounce it Jagwar or Jag-u-ar, everyone agrees the brand oozes style. The E-Type was released in 1961 to some pretty heavy praise. If Enzo Ferrari referred to it as, “The most beautiful car ever made,” well, that’s good enough for us.
1969 Maserati Ghibli 4.7
The aggressive shark-shaped nose on the Maserati Ghibli is enough to place it firmly on this list. Plus, the Maserati name earns it plenty of clout. Basically, this car is what the Mazda Miata dreams of becoming as it falls asleep at night.
If it’s cool enough for Bond, it’s cool enough for us. If you had to pick one vehicle that James Bond relied on the most, you’d be hard-pressed not to go with the DB5, and the one from Goldfinger would look pretty sweet in our garage next to the cans of beer and lawn care products.
The doors are only part of the reason this is one of the coolest cars to ever hit the pavement. The fact that the 300SL was the fastest production car at the time, means driving to your ad meetings in Manhattan wouldn’t be a bore.
You know you’re getting some sick power when they have to change the body of a Mustang just to accommodate your freakishly large engine. How could you not want to roll down the windows and listen to that sucker as you were cruising around? (Which would be a good idea since, due to the size of the engine, they couldn’t fit in any air conditioning.)
1963 Corvette Sting Ray
While nothing was wrong with the Corvette prior to ’63, when the Sting Ray rolled out it made the previous models look like chopped liver (fast & still somewhat attractive chopped liver). Besides the new look, the C2 Corvette was a bit lighter and handled far better than its predecessors. While some nice stylistic changes would be made in the coming years, there’s something about being first.
1969 Ferrari Dino 246 GT
Far too often cars are rigid. The lines and angles are harsh and, unless there’s something crazy under the hood, they become a complete clone of something else. The soft lines on the Ferrari Dino 246 GT tells us this car is meant to be driven fast and playfully. If we had one, we’d oblige.
1966 Alfa Romeo Spider Duetto
Something about this car just makes us want to drive the Italian countryside while occasionally stopping to drink local wines. Plus, any time you can get a car with style AND storage space, well you just hit the jackpot my friend. It’s perfect for storing all the sheets of paper with phone numbers on them.
1969 Dodge Charger
If there’s one thing we know about the ’69 Charger, it’s aerodynamic. At least that’s what we learned from Bo and Luke Duke. The ’69 Charger is a thing of beauty whether it’s a General Lee or not. It may never get the billing its Mustang counterparts always do, but the fastback look and all American style will never go out of fashion.
We don’t know if it’s the most stylish car on the list, but as far as cred goes, well it inspired the whole “Let’s toss a couple of seats on a rocket” sports car idea. It also became a new and different Italian sports car option outside of the Ferrari’s of the world for auto enthusiasts at the time.
If you’re noticing a small Bond theme here, you’re totally right. While Bond got a drop-top, the ’69 Toyota 2000GT was stylish enough without one being offered up from the factory. The elongated front, along with the design in general, makes it feel much more like an Italian roadster than something you would picture purchasing for its “dependable gas mileage.”
The Ferrari 250 GTE was the sports car for the family man. It was for the guy who wanted a Ferrari but also wanted to get little Timmy to hockey practice with all his gear. As Road & Track said, “A not only grand, but glorious, touring car.” We’d tack on cool as well.
1970 Datsun 240Z
The Jaguar E-Type’s Asian doppelgänger has the same beautiful look as the Jag with perhaps more brains underneath. The thought that went into the car became the hallmark of Japanese sports cars. See, being cool doesn’t just mean looking good (but it mostly means looking good).
It was pretty much a foregone conclusion that this list would include at least one Mustang and one Camaro. What can we say, we like old-school American muscle power. Seeing those white stripes on a blue Z28 just strikes us as quintessentially cool.
