Gstaad - Ferrari Owners' Club

23.12.2004

The magnificent and snow-crusted Palace Hotel in Gstaad, Switzerland, on 18 December 2004, once again hosted the traditional Bonhams Europe Christmas Ferrari Sale. This year’s affair was the seventh annual and attracted about 2,000 would-be buyers and enthusiastic Ferrari connoisseurs from around the world.

Although far from the top sale in value, perhaps the most astounding result was the price realized for the ex-Dino de Laurentiis and ex-Clint Eastwood 275 GTB, a steel-bodied long-nose three-carburetor model. This sleekly-styled 150 mph two-seat Berlinetta was owned by the star of “Dirty Harry”, “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” and so many other movie world classics during the 1960s. Originally painted grigio ferro (gunmetal) and delivered by the Polar Movie Company to Eastwood while on location in Rome, he soon decided to have the beautiful Berlinetta repainted a startling green metallic. Eastwood then had the car exported to USA and registered in Nevada. This spectacular Ferrari, s/n 08359, coming from a South American vendor, was purchased by a determined Italian bidder for a total price of US$481,108. This is certainly a new benchmark price for this particular model.

The highest price paid at the auction was US$1,252,220 for a covered headlight version 250 GT LWB Spyder California, s/n 0965 GT. Sold new by John Von Neumann's official dealership Ferrari Representatives in Hollywood, California, where it remained until 1988, it then passed into a long term ownership in a private collection in Europe. Acquired by the Swiss vendor in 2002, the car had since undergone a complete and extremely thorough restoration and rebuild. The successful bidder was a European collector. This car, the 9th of only 50 units built, had sold at auction in 1988 for US$965,700.

A spectacular 365 GT4/BB sold new to King Hussein of Jordan, s/n 17751, was offered with just 6,300 km from new. When new it had been flown directly from Venice, Italy, to the Royal Garage in Amman, Jordan. Still wearing the king’s favorite bright orange color, it was acquired by a European collector for US$158,040, a value level not seen since the late 1980s. Of these early Boxers only 387 units were built and the one in Gstaad was equipped with the rare cloth seats, typical of the 1974 season. The car available from Bonhams in Gstaad was probably the finest surviving example of its type.

Another high price was achieved by a medium gray 250 GT Pinin Farina coupe, s/n 1705 GT. During its life this car had been owned by both Lodovico Scarfiotti and Gino Munaron, well-known Italian Ferrari racing drivers. After a brisk bidding duel between English, Irish and Scandinavian enthusiasts the car ultimately was purchased for US$ 88,447 by the Scandinavian. Pinin Farina Coupés are pretty rare these days, only 353 were built originally and many have been destroyed or served as donor cars for Ferrari replica production.

An early 500 Superfast, s/n 5983, the ex-Brussels Salon 1964 show car, went to a telephone bidder in England for US$329,076. This car had originally been owned by a member of the wealthy Dupont family in USA and spent the last years in a Norwegian museum. In total, only 36 Superfasts were built and each was delivered new to either a VIP, movie star, royal or other special client. This model is often referred to as “Car of the Kings”.

Three 1990s era Scuderia Ferrari Formula One cars were available, but the bidding on none of them was sufficient to effect a sale. One was the 641/2 Formula One of 1990 in which Alain Prost had won the 100th Formula One Grand Prix for Suderia Ferrari. It is owned today by Sir Frank Williams who obtained this historically significant single-seater directly from the factory. The other two monoposti in Gstaad were a 412 F1 of 1995, coming from a Dutch collection, plus an ex-Michael Schumacher F399 Formula One car from an English owner. Alas, neither car was sold in Gstaad. The market for such cars is extremely small and apart from using them in the factory supported Corse Clienti Program one cannot do much more with these cars.

Other star lots which sold well in a packed saleroom jammed with eager bidders from all around the globe included a scarce 288 GTO, which was available from an English vendor. This limited-edition, twin-turbocharged mid-engined Berlinetta was sold to Greece for US$319’574. A Swiss collector and racing driver acquired the specially modified 365 GTB/4 Daytona Competition Conversion, which had been very carefully race prepared by Dutch specialist Piet Roelofs. An almost brand new 550 Barchetta, beautifully painted darkblue with blue interior and white stitching plus extremely low mileage, was sold to an Italian.

A New York-based collector, who happens to own two California Spyders (both an LWB and an SWB), one with and one without the very rare hardtop for this model, was the successful bidder at US$23,830 for the unrestored hardtop offered. These hardtops are a practical accessory for the Italian marque’s most revered two-seat convertible “roadster”. A fully operational 330 P2 children’s car went for US$14,890 after some extremely energetic bidding between competitive parents.

In all 30 Ferraris were on the block at Gstaad, and 18 of them found new owners before the evening was over, for a success rate of 60 percent. Many of the prices realized were reminiscent of the market prices of the late 1980s. Overall, taking into account the collectibles, clock and watches offered some 68 percent of all lots sold, with a gross sale figure of some 5-million Swiss Francs or approximately US$4.5-million. Bonhams Europe President Simon Kidston was quite happy and commented that customers today want high quality cars in excellent condition and with impeccable provenance.



365 GT4 BB Scaglietti	250 GTE 2+2 Coupé Pinifarina	250 GTE 2+2 (250 GT SWB replica)	250 GT Lusso Berlinetta Scaglietti


500 Superfast Series 1 Pininfarina	500 Superfast Series 1 Pininfarina	F40	641/2 & 412

Click here for a full list of the lots and prices