Ferraris top Pebble Beach auction results: full report

| 18 Aug 2015

In a year where classic Ferrari prices have gone from strength to strength, it will come as no surprise that the Italian marque once again dominated the results of a Pebble Beach auction week in which almost $400,000,000-worth (£255,000,000) of metal crossed the block. 

Pebble Beach Auctions

The biggest winner was a 1964 Ferrari 250LM Coupe, which sold at RM Sotheby’s for $17,600,000 (£11,235,000). It is the 23rd of just 32 examples ever built, and was originally bought by confectioner Ronald Fry, who campaigned the car successfully in period. 

Pebble Beach Auctions

Despite Fry driving the car as much as possible  – to the point that he received a medal of recognition for his outstanding achievements in racing by none other than Enzo Ferrari – he never had a major accident. 

Pebble Beach Auctions

It was closely followed by a 250GT California SWB Spider, which fetched an impressive $16,830,000 (£10,700,000) at Gooding – just over its lower estimate. The auction marked the first time that the car had been offered for public sale since the 1960s. 

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The car is one of just 37 covered headlight, short-wheelbase examples, and has never been subject to an extensive restoration. 

Pebble Beach Auctions

Rounding off the top three – all Ferrari 250s – was a Short-wheelbase Berlinetta Speciale, which made $16,500,000 (£10,500,000), half a million dollars over estimate. 

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The one-off Giugiaro masterpiece was once owned by renowned designer Nuccio Bertone, and paid homage to the Maranello firm’s Championship-winning 1961 Grand Prix car. 

Pebble Beach Auctions

One of the few non-Ferrari lots to break into the top ten was a 1998 McLaren F1, which had been upgraded to LM specification by the factory – one of just two road examples to undergo the treatment. 

Pebble Beach Auctions

The F1 sold for a massive $13,750,000 (£8,750,000) and followed hot on the heels of Rowan Atkinson’s example, which was widely reported to have been sold for in excess of £8m. 

Pebble Beach Auctions

A Jaguar C-type Lightweight that came fourth at Le Mans in 1953 became the most expensive of its type to ever sell at auction when it made $13,200,000 (£8,425,000) at RM Sotheby's. The car is one of just three Lightweight examples, and one of the last C-types built.

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In addition to racing at La Sarthe in 1953, the Jaguar was campaigned extensively by Ecurie Ecosse the following year, and had been fully restored in the team's blue livery. 

Pebble Beach Auctions

The same price was achieved for a 1956 Ferrari 250GT Tour de France, which was a previous class winner at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. 

Pebble Beach Auctions

Owned and raced by the legendary Marquis Alfonso de Portago, the 250GT is the fifth of only seven Scaglietti-bodied first-series competition berlinettas and placed first at the 1956 Tour de France Auto. 

Pebble Beach Auctions

The final non-Italian entry in the list of top ten Pebble auction results was a Rothmans-liveried Porsche 956, which won Le Mans in 1982. 

Pebble Beach Auctions

The former Ickx, Bell, Schuppan, Holbert and Haywood racer fetched more than a million dollars over its pre-sale upper estimate, with the final price being $10,120,000 (£6,460,000).

A Ferrari 250GT Interim Coupé and a 250GT California lbw Spider sold for $8,525,000 and $8,500,000, respectively, with a 1950 275S/340 America Barchetta fetched $7,975,000, rounding off the top ten sales results.