Ferrari 250 GTO sells for $35 million

A Ferrari 250 GTO – once owned by Sir Stirling Moss – is reported to have sold for a record-breaking $35 million.

The Ferrari 250 GTO is probably the most coveted car on the planet and is, therefore, one of the most expensive.

Simple supply and demand dictates that when a product is reckoned to be the best there is and the supply is limited prices will rise. And for the Ferrari 250 GTO they certainly have.

Recent 250 GTO sales have included one bought by Chris Evans for a reputed £12 million (the slightly less valuable Series II) and one sold by John Hunt (the Foxtons guy) for £20.2 million, three years after he bought it for £15.8 million. Big numbers.

And certainly big numbers compared to the original asking price of the 250 GTO in the early sixties when it cost £6,000. There was a point when 250 GTOs were fetching as little as £1,500 and Nick Mason managed to buy his in 1975 for just £37,000.

But now we have what appears to be the highest price yet paid for a 250 GTO with reports that Dutch businessman Erice Heerama (who owns the Nyetimber vineyard in Sussex) has flogged his car to American car collector Craig McCaw for $35 million, on the face of it a record price for a 250 GTO.

The car in question is a 1962 250 GTO built for Stirling Moss and his UDT Laystall Racing Team (although Stirling never drove it), is RHD, has Moss’s signature on the driver’s seat, S/N 3505 and comes in a fetching shade of Apple Green (Verde Chiaro?).

Unlike the last classic car ‘bubble’ this one shows no sign of bursting any time soon. With new wealth in emerging markets and the obvious finite supply of classic cars, there is a long way to go before the top is reached – if it ever is.

Ferrari 250 GTO S/N 3505 Video