1962 Ferrari 250 GT Chassis #3269 Body. Photo: Bertone (Getty Images)
If you were to take a wild guess at what the most expensive classic car ever sold was, what would you guess? And how much would you imagine such a car might cost? What would be in it? Would it be like the Inspector Gadget Mobile? Or a Bond car?
Is it the 1969 Shelby Mustang GT500 Nic Cage totaled?
The Ferris Bueller-stolen 1985 Modena GT Spyder California?
The original Batmobile driven by Adam West himself?
Nope, all wrong. The answer? A 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO. The price? A shocking $48.4 million.
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The car was bought Saturday at an auction in California. It’s the most ever paid for a classic car at auction, ever.
A rare Ferrari has smashed the record for the most expensive classic car bought at an auction, selling for a cool $48.4 million https://t.co/pp95Ao4hz6 pic.twitter.com/Q6KZjo8TEf
— TicToc by Bloomberg (@tictoc) August 27, 2018
So why pay nearly twice the cost of Michael Jordan’s 56,000 square foot mansion for a car?
Well, sure, Ferrari is a high in-demand brand, but they only built 36 examples of the 250 GTO from 1953 to 1964, meaning it’s likely this car is one of the few pristine versions of its kind from 1962 still in existence.
1962 Ferrari 250 GTO smashes auction record, selling for $48.4 million: https://t.co/M5Pof5R2yl pic.twitter.com/Ty9eq2cRXq
— Forbes (@Forbes) August 26, 2018
The seller was a dude named Greg Whitten, who helps run Numerix Software but was an early Microsoft employee when he bought the car in 2000 for $10 million. The buyer is unknown at this time.
R690 250 460.00, thats the new record for the most expensive car ever sold at a public auction. It belongs to this 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO, number 3 of 36, is one of the most authentic and original examples in existence and was also 1/4 that received upgrades in period by Scaglietti pic.twitter.com/8Ey2zCaBFT
— Motor Magnet (@Motor_Magnet) August 26, 2018
What can $47.4 million get you on the web?
Enough food to feed 22,428 homeless people 3 meals a day for a year according to this nonprofit. Or 303 of these “untouched” Scottish islands. Or how about 11 original 1960s Batmobiles for you and your friends?
You get the point. So save a rainforest, send thousands of kids to college or buy a classic car?
Next thing you’ll tell me is that professional athletes are overpaid.
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Josh Helmuth is a sports reporter from St. Louis who contributes to Mandatory.
