Thursday, October 3, 2013

Ferrari GTO Becomes Most Expensive Car at $52 Million

From Bloomberg:
A 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO racer has become the world’s most expensive car, selling for $52 million.
The red competition car, formerly owned by the Greenwich, Connecticut-based collector Paul Pappalardo, was acquired by an unidentified buyer in a private transaction, said three specialist traders who independently confirmed the purchase and price to Bloomberg News. Recently, the car has been owned by a Spanish collector, the car website Barchetta said.

The price is a 49 percent increase on the record for any auto, achieved last year for another 250 GTO. Values of classic cars, particularly Ferraris of the 1950s and 1960s, continue to grow, attracting new enthusiasts, investors and speculators -- and prompting fears of a bubble in the market.

“Today the GTO is considered the top car to own,” the California-based dealer Don Williams of Blackhawk Collection said in an interview. “It’s like the Mona Lisa. It has a mystique. If you have a GTO, you have a great collection.”

The car was acquired by Pappalardo in 1974, restored and subsequently driven by the collector in many historic races, including the 2002 Le Mans Classic, before being sold on.

“We don’t confirm these things,” Pappalardo said when telephoned last night. “I have no comment.”

Stirling Moss
The Italian marque’s 250 GTO, created in 1962 to compete at the Le Mans 24-Hour and other Grand-Touring car races, is the world’s most desirable and expensive car. Only 39 were produced. An apple-green version, made for the British race driver Stirling Moss, was sold privately for a record $35 million, Bloomberg News reported in June 2012....MORE
See also:
How Do You Value Value?
What is the most valuable automobile in the world?

I bring this up because of a post at FT Alphaville: "What is the value of unique?".
Izabella intro's with a quick sketch of StarTrek NG's Data and his uniquity.
She follows up with:
...But it’s the uniqueness factor which really is worth some consideration at this point, due to the break-neck speed at which the art of copying is now progressing.....