A 1961 Ferrari 250 PF Cabrio_SII. Gooding & Co is offering a Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider — one of only 37 of its kind — during the annual classic car event at California’s coastal towns of Carmel and Monterey and at the Pebble Beach golf course, which may fetch as much as $18mn.

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A 1961 red convertible Ferrari California Spider may fetch as much as $18mn at auction this week, the top lot among 78 Ferraris that are up for sale.
Gooding & Co is offering the Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider — one of only 37 of its kind — during the annual classic car event at California’s coastal towns of Carmel and Monterey and at the Pebble Beach golf course.
Three auctioneers are offering 390 cars, including 25 from one private collection that may total a record $80mn. Cars built for Pope John Paul II and for the former Fiat chairman Gianni Agnelli are also among the items for sale.
Last year, auctions at Gooding, Bonhams and RM Auctions reached a record tally of almost $400mn, led by a $38.1mn Ferrari 250 GTO Berlinetta that set a record for a car sold at auction globally. Values are stablising after rising along with other high-end collectibles as wealthy individuals’ appetite for alternative investments grows.
Prices are “flat at a very high level,” said McKeel Hagerty, chief executive officer of Hagerty, a Traverse City, Michigan-based insurer and classic car database. “There is still very high demand for important cars.”
The estimate for the Ferrari — the first time since the 1960s that this car with the chassis 3095 GT is coming to a public sale in the US — is $16mn to $18mn, according to Santa Monica, California-based Gooding.
In February, the same model fetched the world record for its category at auction, selling for $18.5mn in Paris. The car offered in California hasn’t had a full restoration, which makes it unusual for a car of its kind and possibly more valuable, said Larry Fisher, executive director of the NHRA Motorsports Museum in Pomona, California.
RM Sotheby’s — created when Sotheby’s auction house took a 25% ownership interest in RM Auctions in February — will auction a yellow 1960 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta Competizione for more than $17mn. It’s one of about 45 of its kind, RM Sotheby’s said.
“It’s nearly impossible to find a better example in the world right now,” Alain Squindo, vice-president at RM Sotheby’s, said in a phone interview.
The yellow Ferrari and an orange 1998 McLaren F1 sports car, estimated at more than $12mn, are part of a private collection of 25 autos that includes 10 Ferraris, two Lamborghinis and two Bugattis that will be auctioned by RM Sotheby’s. The seller is an unidentified collector based in Florida.
The sale is expected to total more than $80mn, which would be the highest ever for a private collection sold during a single-day car auction. Bonhams set the record last year for the category at $66mn.
Also included in this sale is a 2005 Ferrari Enzo the factory built as a gift to Pope John Paul II, estimated at $4mn to $6mn. It’s the 400th version and last one built, according to RM Sotheby’s.
The Pope asked for it to be sold to benefit victims of the 2004 tsunami. Ferrari auctioned the car after Pope John Paul II died and presented Pope Bendict XVI with the check.
Another notable car coming to auction is a 1956 Fiat Eden Roc created for Gianni Agnelli, who became the Fiat chairman in 1966 and who wanted a car to take guests from his estate in Nice, France, to the beach. The open air Eden Roc looks like a cross between a Volkswagen van and a road-ready motorboat. Gooding has a low estimate of $250,000.
“It’s an example of a really unusual item that never comes up for auction,” said David Gooding, president and founder of Gooding.
Bonhams will offer a 1959 Ferrari 250 GT Competizione Alloy Berlinetta, a sports car that placed third overall at the 1959 Tour de France car race with an estimate of $9mn to $12mn. The auction house will also sell a 1985 Ferrari 288 GTO with a high estimate of $3mn and a 1953 Fiat 8V Supersonic for as much as $2.4mn that’s had the same owner since 1979.
Collectors drive their prizes in order to maintain them — and for fun.
“Almost without exception all of these cars will be driven regularly and some of them will be raced,” Hagerty said. “No car is too valuable to drive.”