It’s probably the time of year when everyone starts to dream of summer; the seasonal decorations are down and the slight change in light shows us that spring is just round the corner. And what better way of celebrating summer than a January auction for one of the summer’s most iconic soft tops – the 250 GT California Spider, one of the most beautiful cars from Ferrari’s past?
The car in question has been under one ownership since 1969 when a certain Jack Castor, a renowned car collector, fell in love with what was Ferrari’s most successful model at the time; the 250 GT Spider.
‘California Jack’ lived in Marin County, California, since made famous by Marin Mountain Bikes and containing the ideal scenic routes for such a soft-top sports car. The story goes that Jack sold his beloved Volkswagen Beetle to help fund the not insignificant cost for 1969 of $3,700 to enable the 1959 GT California Spider to be sitting on his driveway via the Port of Genoa.
The car has apparently only had just over 5-6000 miles added to the clock since that special day, thanks to Jack deciding to only get behind the wheel around twice a month and never going any distance further than 200 miles.
Sadly, Jack died in November 2014 and now his beloved car is hopefully destined to go to another enthusiast where it will be equally treasured and well looked after. The romance of this back-story, the known history and the human nature behind it has got auctioneers estimating the sale price from anything between $8m and a staggering $10m when it finally goes to auction.
The estimate might even be considered conservative; in 2007 one sold for $4.9m and in 2014 another long wheelbase Spider sold for $8.8m while a 250 GTO (of which only 39 were made) sold for an amazing 23 million pounds in the same year.
This particular 250 GT has a 4-speed manual gearbox and produces around 220bhp from a 3-litre V12 (of course) engine.
So if you have some spending money left over after Christmas and the frenzy of Black Friday, and would like be the proud owner of one of these rare models, then you need to know that Gooding & Company is holding the auction at Scottsdale in Phoenix, Arizona between 16th and 17th January this year. Good luck if you bid!
Images: autos.yahoo.com, cavallomag.com
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