1960 Ferrari 250 GT

Sold for $1,512,500 at 2016 Gooding & Company : The Amelia Island Auction.
It is estimated that 200 examples of the 250 GT Pinin Farina Cabriolet were built. This particular example, chassis number 1695 GT, has a rather extensive list of ownership history. It entered the Pinin Farina plant for coachwork on December 1st of 1959, and was the fourth example completed. Under the bonnet was a tipo 128E outside-plug engine. The interior features instruments in kilometers, meaning it was specified for the European market. The exterior of the car was finished in Verde Scuro (dark green) paint with an interior trimmed in Marrone (brown) leather. This is an early Series II Pinin Farina Cabriolet and one of the first 100 examples built. It features a dashboard layout particular to the earliest cars, as well as the original mechanical configuration employing Houdaille shock absorbers.

The car was completed at the factory on March 2nd of 1960, and shortly thereafter was delivered to the official Ferrari concessionaire Garage de Montchoisy in Switzerland. It was shown on March 10th, of 1960 at the 30th Annual Geneva Motor Show, were it sat next to two other 250 GTs, a Short-Wheelbase Berlinetta, and a California Spider.

Later in 1960, it was sold to its first owner of record, Mr. Jean de Toledo, who owned the car through 1962. In early 1963, it was sold to another owner in Sweden, before passing through several additional Swedish caretakers over the next 15 years, including ven Andersson, who repainted the car in red and reupholstered the interior in black leather in 1973. In early 1984, it was acquired by Glen Kalil of Palm City, Florida. After several more owners, it was sold in 1989 and exported to Europe when purchased by a Swiss citizen. After several more owners, the recently restored car was purchased in March 2000, at which point the odometer displayed about 60,000 km. During the late summer of 2000, Carrosserie Scoffier in Nice repainted the body in the current shade of Grigio Scuro (dark gray). It was sold once more, before being purchased by Larry Nelson of the US in early 2002. Mr. Nelson returned the car to the United States.

By Daniel Vaughan | May 2016