Monterey auctions: when 30 million is cheap, and 1.87 million is expensive

When 30 million for one Ferrari seems cheap, and 1.87 million for another Ferrari seems very costly. Some results of the auctions during Monterey Car Week can use some explaining.

Bonhams Cars can pride itself on selling the most expensive car during the whole of the Monterey Car Week auctions. It was a race car, and what a race car on top of it. The 1967 Ferrari 412P was (part of) Ferrari’s answer to the Ford GT40. The 412P was the client version of the factory 330 P4 prototypes. Both meant the same thing: ‘330’ was the reference to the capacity of one cylinder, whereas 412 was short for 4-litres, 12 cylinders. OK, there were more differences. For instance, the 330s had fuel injection, giving them a 30 hp-advantage over the 412s.

Maranello Concessionaires

This car, chassis #0854, started life in 1967 as a Maranello Concessionaires entry. The UK Ferrari importer Colonel Ronnie Hoare campaigned the car for the first time in the world sportscar championship round at Spa, Belgium. The 412P, clad in Rosso Corso with Cambridge Blue stripe, ran with Richard Attwood and Lucien Bianchi. The pair ended up in third place, ahead of the factory 330 P4. Le Mans brought a DNF (Attwood/Courage). David Piper and Richard Attwood drove it to seventh at Brands Hatch.

With the Maranello racing team closing down, David Piper bought #0854. He ran it in BP green, changing both the body panels and the style from a closed prototype to an open racer. Further changes would follow. In 1969, Piper sold the car to Chris Cord in the US. He had it road-registered and drove it on the open road. The current owner decided to bring the car back to how it was in 1967.

One bidder

Now, here is the thing. Only two original 412Ps were built in closed Berlinetta form. The two others were converted 330 P3s. But extremely rare fits the description very well. Before the auction, no official estimate was given, but expectations were anything between 35 and 40 million dollars (32.1 – 36.7 million euros). In the end, only one bidder put his hand up.

And so, #0854 changes ownership for 30,255,000 dollars (27,806,547 euros). That is a considerable sum, more money than we will ever see, we know. But still, the overall feeling is, this car did not fully meet the expectations. And for once, 30 million sounds like it could – or maybe even should – have been a bit more.

There is a Mondial in there

Over at RM Sotheby’s, the exact opposite happened. The much-hyped ‘Lost & Found’ Ferrari collection had one extreme lot: the leftovers of a Ferrari 500 Mondial Series I. Yes, it is one of thirteen, and it has a bit of interesting racing history. Franco Cortese drove it to 14^th in the 1954 Mille Miglia. By then, it had already received new coachwork by Scaglietti, instead of the original Pinin Farina body.

By 1958, it was in the US, where the Italian inline-four made way for an American V8. Something which happened often in the US road racing scene. Later on, it was crashed and suffered from fire damage.

What you see here, is a big pile of metal, to which a chassis plate is attached, the only thing of real value. There is a four-cylinder engine with the car, but not a period-correct type. Nobody will deny this is an interesting project, but this will in all fairness require the commissioning of a new chassis around that chassis plate. Again, not uncommon.

But then; paying 1,875,000 dollar (1,722,999 euros) for the start of a project that will cost a ton of money to produce a new car? A restored early fifties Mondial with a nice history will set you back 3.5 to 4.5 million dollars (3.3 – 4.2 million euros). And you won’t lose as many nights of sleep over it.