This is What $30 Million of Ferrari Looks Like at Speed

Say “Hi”—and soon “Bye”—to the last of the Ferrari NART Spiders.
www.thedrive.com

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As we just showed in one ludicrous slideshow, vintage Ferraris are some of the most valuable cars on the planet. If it’s red, has a five-speed and a Colombo V12, odds are that Ferrari is a seven-figure car. One of 10 high-powered, special-order convertibles hand-bodied by Scaglietti? You’re looking at eight figures. This car, the 1968 Ferrari 275 GTS/4 NART Spider, is expected to go for $30 million when it’s auctioned in Monaco on May 14th. That’s about $2.5 million per cylinder, $5 million per Weber carburetor, or $7.5 million per Borrani wire wheel. Even for Monaco, that’s rich.

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Tom Gidden/RM Sotheby’s

Though it’s not the car that starred with Faye Dunaway and Steve McQueen in The Thomas Crowne Affair, it’s led a similarly glamorous life. The only NART car sold in Europe, this rosso Ferrari 275 was sold to a Spanish colonel, and may or may not have been taken round trip to northern Africa. It was then bought by a Brit who brought to England and repainted it with the deep red you see here (the original was grey) before being transferred to a Swiss owner. The Alps make for good driving, don’t you know.

As perhaps the world’s most valuable Ferrari convertible, chances are this 275, once purchased, will be shuttled quickly into a climate-controlled garage; you won’t see it under power unless you happen to be the caretaker of some Saudi prince’s underground car vault. Take the chance now, then, to see what $30 million looks like under full throttle. Until they learn how to motorize a mansion, this is it.

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Tom Gidden/RM Sotheby’s