#I think he was just single at the Ford v Ferrari premiere

[yesterdayiwrote]

still think the Maisy Kay logo on his helmet very strange, especially after rokit parting away from Williams. And why did he attend the premiere of fordvferrari with Maisy Kay in 2019?

Okay so I have no idea what has prompted this, but actually yes, can we discuss this because it remains one of the oddest sponsorships I’ve seen in F1.

Maisy Kay was obviously the daughter of the owner of Rokit, and my guess is that her name going on George’s helmet was kind of a ‘personal sponsorship’ that was separate to Rokit’s deal with Williams. It probably came with a slightly smaller price tag too for daddy to help promote her music career.

When it was announced, the idea was supposedly that he would appear in one of her music videos as well, but that never happened, and the excuse was always ‘because of schedules and Covid’

As you say, she went as his date to the Ford v Ferrari premiere, and, as far as I remember, that happened during the boys holiday he went on with Alex where Alex went off with Lily. It made sense him being there as an F1 driver but, and I may be misremembering here, I have a funny feeling there was an Instagram caption or something that implied SHE invited HIM, rather than the other way around? All I know is that they looked awkward as fuck on the red carpet, like two people who did not want to be in each other’s company and had met literally that second.

But as you say, Rokit left Williams in acrimonious circumstances at the end of 2019… and yet George kept the Maisy Kay logo on his helmet until he left at the end of 2021, with the exception of Sakhir when it didn’t go on his Merc helmet? Which kind of suggests it was linked to Williams somehow?

It was very odd. They only really interacted during 2019, after that they signed up to sponsor Tatiana Calderon, but her logo stayed on George’s helmet?

I don’t know what happened. I’m not sure why he still had the sponsorship during 2020/2021, presumably her dad decided he still wanted to pay for it or they paid upfront for three years so George just honoured his side of the deal. I always felt like there was supposed to be *more* to it though? I’m not sure if it was intended to be *something* (if you catch my drift) and it just never materialised. She never really took off as an artist and they just stopped cross promoting each other pretty soon after the Rokit deal went sour. I think he literally tweeted one of her songs once?

Just an all around odd arrangement, which given what we know now about Rokit, doesn’t seem that unusual, but it’s just weird that it was like a half arsed marketing opportunity?

[jesusvasser]

Inside One of the Premier Car Customizing Shops in the Country

Matt Figliola’s enthusiasm for engineering and creating dates to childhood, when even at the tender age of eight he could often be found down in his parents’ basement fixing and futzing with radios and speakers. Paid work in the audio field would follow in time, but it was inevitable in a way, given the breadth of his mechanical curiosity, that Figliola would branch out once he’d had more exposure to the industrial arts. While audio technology fascination kept him abreast of the latest in custom audio and in-car communication, he’d begin acquiring machine tools. Soon he’d be hiring designers and craftsmen to help him take the futzing to a higher level across more fronts, an enterprise abetted by growing fluency in computer-assisted design and 3D printing.

Ai Design, in Tuckahoe, New York, is the business Figliola set up in 1992 to follow his muse, and its reputation for executing high-quality, one-off car projects with both non-audio and audio focuses has seen the firm’s work bays and 10 employees become perpetually occupied. This reputation, together with the diversity of assignments it has undertaken, was what led us to visit its premises one recent morning. Abutting the Bronx River that separates it from the Bronx, Tuckahoe is a true border town, a Westchester village with an unmistakable Bronx tinge to it. The cars inside are from everywhere.

Ai’s first jobs were audio-related, and sound remains a core competency whose relevance has not ebbed with time. Indeed, as electronics become ever more complicated and ever more easily prone to obsolescence and issues of compatibility, the integration of complex, mobile telephone-audio-data systems with the complex electronics of the modern automobile offer ever more avenues for custom work, while demanding even more specialized knowledge and depth of experience.

  One job Ai frequently undertakes, for instance, is an upgrade for mobile-phone reception, with a virtual private network and “bonded” modem installation that constantly searches for the best carrier signal going (the owner, for whom cost is presumably no object, signs up for all of the carriers and the VPN picks the best one at any given moment). The owner of this car, says Figliola pointing to a heavily upgraded Escalade, one of a pair he’s been working on for a single customer—will be able to “download an incredible amount of data,” allowing access to his complete home music library in California, anywhere. Huge tablet screens for rear-seat passengers required the front seat backs be redesigned. Made and upholstered in-house, along with the rest of its heavily reimagined interior, this Escalade cabin looks more like it has been through the bespoke wing of Bentley Motors, rather than gracelessly pimped, as many are, under the elevated train by some fly-by-night butcher in the Bronx.

I’ve got to be honest, and say that ordinarily a business that has a couple of Escalades and a luminescent tweaked G-wagen parked out front isn’t necessarily a first port of call for the likes of me, but as I get to know Figliola and see the other jobs Ai has in its shop, the more impressed I grow. A stainless-steel CJ-3A Jeep body imported from the Philippines is being assembled for an owner who’s recently called to specify an-all electric powertrain. (“Cars are going electric, we know that,” Figliola, a student of the industry, opines, allowing that the prospect excites him.) In other bays, a shiny resto-mod midyear Vette was bought at auction and brought in for evaluation by its new owner; deemed virtually undrivable, it stuck around for a complete suspension rethink, with an eye toward real-world driving fun, safety, and comfort, as well as some custom dash work. An Aston Martin Vantage Volante from the ’80s is in for a custom audio installation that involves (reversibly) installing speakers in air-conditioning ducts with 3D-printed speaker plates, covered in leather, and a discreet re-trunking of the A/C outlets. A superb early Porsche 928 is in for an upgrade to its OEM radio, as is a Bentley Continental. “We’re going to put a new volume control in the OEM radio to be the volume control of what will effectively be just a Bluetooth audio system. So there is no radio, it’s just your phone. But it will look like the old Bentley wireless set.”

“I like this little trend that’s happening, that I think is going to continue for us, where we sympathetically install an audio system into a classic car without defiling it in any way, shape, or form. That sort of a challenge, where that’s the mandate, is very interesting to me. Not necessarily sophisticated or huge or giant, just one that works, is functional, sounds good, but does not damage the car, and is completely reversible and if you wanted to bring it back to its original state.”

Showcasing Ai’s ease with diverse materials is a handsome example of the fondly remembered ’70s GMC Motorhome, the futuristic one with the fiberglass body, king-sized Oldsmobile Toronado V-8 and front-wheel drive. Undergoing a complete rebuild and interior redesign, it is being executed to address the needs of a prominent concert promoter who plans to use it as an on-site party palace for big music festivals. Nearby, a Ferrari F488 is getting an aftermarket widebody kit installed, an act of owner-sanctioned malfeasance that Ai’s proprietor won’t be drawn into either defending or publicly mocking. Conversely, a turn of the century Mercury Marauder, with hidden rear door handles and a tasteful interior previously subject to heavy customization by Ai, is back for another nip and tuck, and we all agree this supercharged sleeper is nothing but cool. Figliola’s own 1940 Ford pickup, a flathead, recently restored by the shop in black, is a stunner.

Figliola acknowledges that many of his customers are of the money-is-no-object variety, but hastens to add that his company has “some mortals that we do work for, too.” Does he find them different to deal with, the mortals and the hyperwealthy?

“Yeah, there’s definitely a difference. The projects tend to be different, they’re more involved. There’s more interest and excitement, almost,” he says, among the hyperwealthy. “They have more time, more dough. Also, I would say that the fact for many wealthy people is just that they custom-make their whole life. They customize their house, their office, their boat, their whatever. Some of them I find, they’re really into a specific aspect of [their car], but it’s not like they’re students of all cars, or the history of cars. Often, they’re very specifically knowledgeable about one thing, but surprisingly, sometimes, unknowledgeable about other things.”

Before we leave, Figliola shows us his tools, and these seem to animate him most, which we take as a good sign. He shows us the 3D printer Ai increasingly relies on, and some of the custom pieces they’ve fabricated, as well as the lathes and presses that are stocks in the machinist’s trade. But today he’s particularly excited by a massive old Fortuna leather splitter they’ve acquired, which can split leather to the point where it’s paper thin – ideal for covering items whose contours you wish to be seen. “It’s really for finer things. I mean you wouldn’t wrap a whole dashboard with this. But, you could wrap the stalk on a 911 turn signal. Small parts. Parts where there’s some sculptural detail that’s got to come through.” A Fortuna skiver bevels edges for fine joining work.

Is this your favorite tool, Matt? “I don’t know. I like all my tools. They were all curated and chosen very carefully.” Of this we have no doubt. Matt Figliola has the tools and he knows how to use them.

The post Inside One of the Premier Car Customizing Shops in the Country appeared first on Automobile Magazine.

from Performance Junk WP Feed 4 http://bit.ly/2LTDh6j via IFTTT

[eddiejpoplar]

Inside One of the Premier Car Customizing Shops in the Country

Matt Figliola’s enthusiasm for engineering and creating dates to childhood, when even at the tender age of eight he could often be found down in his parents’ basement fixing and futzing with radios and speakers. Paid work in the audio field would follow in time, but it was inevitable in a way, given the breadth of his mechanical curiosity, that Figliola would branch out once he’d had more exposure to the industrial arts. While audio technology fascination kept him abreast of the latest in custom audio and in-car communication, he’d begin acquiring machine tools. Soon he’d be hiring designers and craftsmen to help him take the futzing to a higher level across more fronts, an enterprise abetted by growing fluency in computer-assisted design and 3D printing.

Ai Design, in Tuckahoe, New York, is the business Figliola set up in 1992 to follow his muse, and its reputation for executing high-quality, one-off car projects with both non-audio and audio focuses has seen the firm’s work bays and 10 employees become perpetually occupied. This reputation, together with the diversity of assignments it has undertaken, was what led us to visit its premises one recent morning. Abutting the Bronx River that separates it from the Bronx, Tuckahoe is a true border town, a Westchester village with an unmistakable Bronx tinge to it. The cars inside are from everywhere.

Ai’s first jobs were audio-related, and sound remains a core competency whose relevance has not ebbed with time. Indeed, as electronics become ever more complicated and ever more easily prone to obsolescence and issues of compatibility, the integration of complex, mobile telephone-audio-data systems with the complex electronics of the modern automobile offer ever more avenues for custom work, while demanding even more specialized knowledge and depth of experience.

  One job Ai frequently undertakes, for instance, is an upgrade for mobile-phone reception, with a virtual private network and “bonded” modem installation that constantly searches for the best carrier signal going (the owner, for whom cost is presumably no object, signs up for all of the carriers and the VPN picks the best one at any given moment). The owner of this car, says Figliola pointing to a heavily upgraded Escalade, one of a pair he’s been working on for a single customer—will be able to “download an incredible amount of data,” allowing access to his complete home music library in California, anywhere. Huge tablet screens for rear-seat passengers required the front seat backs be redesigned. Made and upholstered in-house, along with the rest of its heavily reimagined interior, this Escalade cabin looks more like it has been through the bespoke wing of Bentley Motors, rather than gracelessly pimped, as many are, under the elevated train by some fly-by-night butcher in the Bronx.

I’ve got to be honest, and say that ordinarily a business that has a couple of Escalades and a luminescent tweaked G-wagen parked out front isn’t necessarily a first port of call for the likes of me, but as I get to know Figliola and see the other jobs Ai has in its shop, the more impressed I grow. A stainless-steel CJ-3A Jeep body imported from the Philippines is being assembled for an owner who’s recently called to specify an-all electric powertrain. (“Cars are going electric, we know that,” Figliola, a student of the industry, opines, allowing that the prospect excites him.) In other bays, a shiny resto-mod midyear Vette was bought at auction and brought in for evaluation by its new owner; deemed virtually undrivable, it stuck around for a complete suspension rethink, with an eye toward real-world driving fun, safety, and comfort, as well as some custom dash work. An Aston Martin Vantage Volante from the ’80s is in for a custom audio installation that involves (reversibly) installing speakers in air-conditioning ducts with 3D-printed speaker plates, covered in leather, and a discreet re-trunking of the A/C outlets. A superb early Porsche 928 is in for an upgrade to its OEM radio, as is a Bentley Continental. “We’re going to put a new volume control in the OEM radio to be the volume control of what will effectively be just a Bluetooth audio system. So there is no radio, it’s just your phone. But it will look like the old Bentley wireless set.”

“I like this little trend that’s happening, that I think is going to continue for us, where we sympathetically install an audio system into a classic car without defiling it in any way, shape, or form. That sort of a challenge, where that’s the mandate, is very interesting to me. Not necessarily sophisticated or huge or giant, just one that works, is functional, sounds good, but does not damage the car, and is completely reversible and if you wanted to bring it back to its original state.”

Showcasing Ai’s ease with diverse materials is a handsome example of the fondly remembered ’70s GMC Motorhome, the futuristic one with the fiberglass body, king-sized Oldsmobile Toronado V-8 and front-wheel drive. Undergoing a complete rebuild and interior redesign, it is being executed to address the needs of a prominent concert promoter who plans to use it as an on-site party palace for big music festivals. Nearby, a Ferrari F488 is getting an aftermarket widebody kit installed, an act of owner-sanctioned malfeasance that Ai’s proprietor won’t be drawn into either defending or publicly mocking. Conversely, a turn of the century Mercury Marauder, with hidden rear door handles and a tasteful interior previously subject to heavy customization by Ai, is back for another nip and tuck, and we all agree this supercharged sleeper is nothing but cool. Figliola’s own 1940 Ford pickup, a flathead, recently restored by the shop in black, is a stunner.

Figliola acknowledges that many of his customers are of the money-is-no-object variety, but hastens to add that his company has “some mortals that we do work for, too.” Does he find them different to deal with, the mortals and the hyperwealthy?

“Yeah, there’s definitely a difference. The projects tend to be different, they’re more involved. There’s more interest and excitement, almost,” he says, among the hyperwealthy. “They have more time, more dough. Also, I would say that the fact for many wealthy people is just that they custom-make their whole life. They customize their house, their office, their boat, their whatever. Some of them I find, they’re really into a specific aspect of [their car], but it’s not like they’re students of all cars, or the history of cars. Often, they’re very specifically knowledgeable about one thing, but surprisingly, sometimes, unknowledgeable about other things.”

Before we leave, Figliola shows us his tools, and these seem to animate him most, which we take as a good sign. He shows us the 3D printer Ai increasingly relies on, and some of the custom pieces they’ve fabricated, as well as the lathes and presses that are stocks in the machinist’s trade. But today he’s particularly excited by a massive old Fortuna leather splitter they’ve acquired, which can split leather to the point where it’s paper thin – ideal for covering items whose contours you wish to be seen. “It’s really for finer things. I mean you wouldn’t wrap a whole dashboard with this. But, you could wrap the stalk on a 911 turn signal. Small parts. Parts where there’s some sculptural detail that’s got to come through.” A Fortuna skiver bevels edges for fine joining work.

Is this your favorite tool, Matt? “I don’t know. I like all my tools. They were all curated and chosen very carefully.” Of this we have no doubt. Matt Figliola has the tools and he knows how to use them.

The post Inside One of the Premier Car Customizing Shops in the Country appeared first on Automobile Magazine.

from Performance Junk Blogger 6 http://bit.ly/2LTDh6j via IFTTT

[jonathanbelloblog]

Inside One of the Premier Car Customizing Shops in the Country

Matt Figliola’s enthusiasm for engineering and creating dates to childhood, when even at the tender age of eight he could often be found down in his parents’ basement fixing and futzing with radios and speakers. Paid work in the audio field would follow in time, but it was inevitable in a way, given the breadth of his mechanical curiosity, that Figliola would branch out once he’d had more exposure to the industrial arts. While audio technology fascination kept him abreast of the latest in custom audio and in-car communication, he’d begin acquiring machine tools. Soon he’d be hiring designers and craftsmen to help him take the futzing to a higher level across more fronts, an enterprise abetted by growing fluency in computer-assisted design and 3D printing.

Ai Design, in Tuckahoe, New York, is the business Figliola set up in 1992 to follow his muse, and its reputation for executing high-quality, one-off car projects with both non-audio and audio focuses has seen the firm’s work bays and 10 employees become perpetually occupied. This reputation, together with the diversity of assignments it has undertaken, was what led us to visit its premises one recent morning. Abutting the Bronx River that separates it from the Bronx, Tuckahoe is a true border town, a Westchester village with an unmistakable Bronx tinge to it. The cars inside are from everywhere.

Ai’s first jobs were audio-related, and sound remains a core competency whose relevance has not ebbed with time. Indeed, as electronics become ever more complicated and ever more easily prone to obsolescence and issues of compatibility, the integration of complex, mobile telephone-audio-data systems with the complex electronics of the modern automobile offer ever more avenues for custom work, while demanding even more specialized knowledge and depth of experience.

  One job Ai frequently undertakes, for instance, is an upgrade for mobile-phone reception, with a virtual private network and “bonded” modem installation that constantly searches for the best carrier signal going (the owner, for whom cost is presumably no object, signs up for all of the carriers and the VPN picks the best one at any given moment). The owner of this car, says Figliola pointing to a heavily upgraded Escalade, one of a pair he’s been working on for a single customer—will be able to “download an incredible amount of data,” allowing access to his complete home music library in California, anywhere. Huge tablet screens for rear-seat passengers required the front seat backs be redesigned. Made and upholstered in-house, along with the rest of its heavily reimagined interior, this Escalade cabin looks more like it has been through the bespoke wing of Bentley Motors, rather than gracelessly pimped, as many are, under the elevated train by some fly-by-night butcher in the Bronx.

I’ve got to be honest, and say that ordinarily a business that has a couple of Escalades and a luminescent tweaked G-wagen parked out front isn’t necessarily a first port of call for the likes of me, but as I get to know Figliola and see the other jobs Ai has in its shop, the more impressed I grow. A stainless-steel CJ-3A Jeep body imported from the Philippines is being assembled for an owner who’s recently called to specify an-all electric powertrain. (“Cars are going electric, we know that,” Figliola, a student of the industry, opines, allowing that the prospect excites him.) In other bays, a shiny resto-mod midyear Vette was bought at auction and brought in for evaluation by its new owner; deemed virtually undrivable, it stuck around for a complete suspension rethink, with an eye toward real-world driving fun, safety, and comfort, as well as some custom dash work. An Aston Martin Vantage Volante from the ’80s is in for a custom audio installation that involves (reversibly) installing speakers in air-conditioning ducts with 3D-printed speaker plates, covered in leather, and a discreet re-trunking of the A/C outlets. A superb early Porsche 928 is in for an upgrade to its OEM radio, as is a Bentley Continental. “We’re going to put a new volume control in the OEM radio to be the volume control of what will effectively be just a Bluetooth audio system. So there is no radio, it’s just your phone. But it will look like the old Bentley wireless set.”

“I like this little trend that’s happening, that I think is going to continue for us, where we sympathetically install an audio system into a classic car without defiling it in any way, shape, or form. That sort of a challenge, where that’s the mandate, is very interesting to me. Not necessarily sophisticated or huge or giant, just one that works, is functional, sounds good, but does not damage the car, and is completely reversible and if you wanted to bring it back to its original state.”

Showcasing Ai’s ease with diverse materials is a handsome example of the fondly remembered ’70s GMC Motorhome, the futuristic one with the fiberglass body, king-sized Oldsmobile Toronado V-8 and front-wheel drive. Undergoing a complete rebuild and interior redesign, it is being executed to address the needs of a prominent concert promoter who plans to use it as an on-site party palace for big music festivals. Nearby, a Ferrari F488 is getting an aftermarket widebody kit installed, an act of owner-sanctioned malfeasance that Ai’s proprietor won’t be drawn into either defending or publicly mocking. Conversely, a turn of the century Mercury Marauder, with hidden rear door handles and a tasteful interior previously subject to heavy customization by Ai, is back for another nip and tuck, and we all agree this supercharged sleeper is nothing but cool. Figliola’s own 1940 Ford pickup, a flathead, recently restored by the shop in black, is a stunner.

Figliola acknowledges that many of his customers are of the money-is-no-object variety, but hastens to add that his company has “some mortals that we do work for, too.” Does he find them different to deal with, the mortals and the hyperwealthy?

“Yeah, there’s definitely a difference. The projects tend to be different, they’re more involved. There’s more interest and excitement, almost,” he says, among the hyperwealthy. “They have more time, more dough. Also, I would say that the fact for many wealthy people is just that they custom-make their whole life. They customize their house, their office, their boat, their whatever. Some of them I find, they’re really into a specific aspect of [their car], but it’s not like they’re students of all cars, or the history of cars. Often, they’re very specifically knowledgeable about one thing, but surprisingly, sometimes, unknowledgeable about other things.”

Before we leave, Figliola shows us his tools, and these seem to animate him most, which we take as a good sign. He shows us the 3D printer Ai increasingly relies on, and some of the custom pieces they’ve fabricated, as well as the lathes and presses that are stocks in the machinist’s trade. But today he’s particularly excited by a massive old Fortuna leather splitter they’ve acquired, which can split leather to the point where it’s paper thin – ideal for covering items whose contours you wish to be seen. “It’s really for finer things. I mean you wouldn’t wrap a whole dashboard with this. But, you could wrap the stalk on a 911 turn signal. Small parts. Parts where there’s some sculptural detail that’s got to come through.” A Fortuna skiver bevels edges for fine joining work.

Is this your favorite tool, Matt? “I don’t know. I like all my tools. They were all curated and chosen very carefully.” Of this we have no doubt. Matt Figliola has the tools and he knows how to use them.

The post Inside One of the Premier Car Customizing Shops in the Country appeared first on Automobile Magazine.

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[eddiejpoplar]

Market Watch: 1962-1964 Ferrari 250 GTO

By now you have probably heard the news: A 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO sold at RM Sotheby’s Monterey auction in August for $48,405,000—a world-record price for a car sold at any auction. Why would anyone spend the better part of $50 million on a car? The short answer is because they can. The long answer is more complicated.

The End of an Era

If you read Automobile, you are likely at least aware of the rarefied air the 250 GTO inhales through its six downdraft Weber carburetors. Across the last decade, the car, with its distinguished aluminum bodywork and a 3.0-liter Colombo V-12 engine, has continued to establish itself as perhaps the premier collectible postwar classic car. Ferrari built just 33 Series I 250 GTOs with the original and more traditional early bodywork, in addition to three more Series II cars with revised sheetmetal for total production of just 36 cars.

Superstar Car: All eyes (and cell phone cameras) were glued to the front of the room as this 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO became the most expensive car to ever sell at auction.

The 250 GTO’s legacy is the stuff of legend. Essentially the last of the true dual-purpose road racers, able to compete on a track and drive home afterward, the 250 GTO (250cc of displacement per cylinder, and Gran Turismo Omologato designating its competition-homologated status) was the ultimate evolution of Ferrari’s front-engine 250 GT series. These 250 GT cars were sold in both road and race spec, but their basic engines and chassis were very similar, and the series really put Ferrari on the map as a credible production carmaker. Today Ferrari as a marque is often said to be the most recognized worldwide.

“You’ve got a roadgoing race car that won many of the big events in Europe and the United States in its day, and it was a romantic time in racing—we loved all the drivers,”

But make no mistake, the 250 GTO, in contrast to the brand’s 250 GT/L or Lusso road car, was made for a single purpose: to contest and win the 1962 FIA GT 3.0-liter international racing class. Which it accomplished. And then it did so again in 1963, besting competition from Jaguar’s new E-type Lightweight and Shelby’s AC-based and Ford-powered Cobra. Its successor, the mid-engine 250 LM, began a motorsports era in which serious race cars drifted ever further away from any premise of road use.

Our subject car was given new Series 2 sheetmetal in 1964.

“You’ve got a roadgoing race car that won many of the big events in Europe and the United States in its day, and it was a romantic time in racing—we loved all the drivers,” says Wayne Carini, owner of classic car dealership F40 Motorsports and host of Motor Trend Network’s “Chasing Classic Cars.” “Until recently, not many GTOs have been sold at auction; they’ve all been traded very privately.”

Like MacNeil’s GTO, this one still has its original engine and gearbox and it was never crashed severely.

Southern California-based classic Ferrari specialist and broker Michael Sheehan adds, “The most prestigious [collector car] club is, of course, the GTO club, which buys access to rub shoulders with Lawrence Stroll, the McCaw brothers, Rob Walton, Nick Mason, Anthony Bamford, Charles Nearburg, Chip Connor, and the [rest] of the international super-rich who have their [GTO] owners’ meetings and literally jet from very private collection to very private collection to show whose is indeed bigger.”

A Recent High-Water Mark

One of those private sales occurred several months ago when a 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO, chassis No. 4153 GT, entered the collection of American David MacNeil, founder of WeatherTech, a large automotive floormats business whose advertisements you’ll find in this very magazine. The sale price was widely reported as being upward of $70 million, a new world-record sales price for any automobile in any venue. As GTOs go, many experts deemed No. 4153 GT as one of the finest. It is believed to retain its original Series I bodywork and its original engine, rarities for cars that have raced extensively. Its history includes an overall win at the prestigious 1964 Tour de France road race and fourth overall at the 1963 24 Hours of Le Mans. Its sale price was instrumental in our subject car arriving at RM Sotheby’s Monterey auction.

“The GTO that sold for more than $70 million was a different body style but still the same thing: a GTO,” Carini says. “That prompted this owner [businessman and vintage racer Gregory Whitten] to come forward because of the price of the previous sale, and he thought, ‘Well, maybe it’s time to sell mine while the market’s hot.’ The gentleman certainly didn’t need the money, but it was a decision based on many things. He was at a point in his life when he thought he wasn’t using it properly and it was time to cash his chips in.”

And yes, we can verify MacNeil’s GTO wears WeatherTech floormats.

A New Auction Record

Our subject car, chassis No. 3413 GT, was originally a Series I car, built in 1962, then rebodied in 1964 with the more streamlined but less iconic Series II panels. Like MacNeil’s GTO, this one still has its original engine and gearbox, and it was never crashed severely. With its Series I bodywork, it was driven at the 1962 Targa Florio by Phil Hill, just after he became the first American Formula 1 World Champion in 1961 at the wheel of a Ferrari. It then changed hands and went on to win its class at the 1963 Targa Florio, and, with new bodywork, it did the same in ’64.

RM Sotheby’s estimated No. 3413 GT would sell for between $45 million and $50 million when it crossed the block in August; bidding opened at $35 million. Over the course of about 10 minutes, a handful of bidders, mainly on the phone, calmly raised the price by increments of $1 million, then $250,000, until the car was resolutely announced sold at $48,405,000 including RM Sotheby’s commission. The bid soundly beat the previous auction record of $38,115,000, also set by a 250 GTO, chassis No. 3851 GT at Bonhams’ Quail Lodge sale in 2014.

So did MacNeil overpay for his $70 million GTO?

“I think MacNeil’s car was probably one of the best ones,” Carini says, “and the difference between a good car and a superb car, as we’re seeing, is about $25 million.

“[This latest] car had been rebodied in the day; I really like the body, but a lot of guys have a vision of what a GTO should look like, and this wasn’t that vision,” Carini continues. “This is sort of a cross between a [mid-engine 250] LM and a front-engine Ferrari. I think that held it back slightly in value.”

It’s no surprise that at the values these cars command, GTO buyers are a picky bunch.

And the Crystal Ball Says …

Is a $100 million 250 GTO in the near future? The odds are favorable.

first $100 million car,” Carini says. “I remember when one sold [long ago] for $2.5 million, and that was like, ‘Oh my god, that’s crazy!’ And then $10 million, and it was, ‘Oh my god, these can never go any further!’ So we just keep going. There are a lot of wealthy people in the world, people who have been very successful, and they like to reward themselves with something nobody else can have. And with 36 GTOs having been made, your chances to buy one are slim.”

WeatherTech founder David MacNeil paid more than $70 million for this 250 GTO with its most desirable Series 1 bodywork.

Sheehan’s take is similarly bullish: “At the peak of the price-point pyramid, the rich just keep getting richer and so the minuscule market for the best-of-the-best eight-figure trophy car remains strong.”

The rich do indeed get richer, and so do their buying habits. Last year, a painting of Jesus holding a crystal orb, dubbed “Salvator Mundi” and believed to be painted by Leonardo da Vinci around 1505, brought in $450 million at a Christie’s auction in Manhattan. On such a scale, a 250 GTO that can be experienced through driving and racing versus being hung on a wall can seem to be a good value.

No End in Sight

Known 250 GTO sales since 2010

2010: 4675 GT, $17 million *Private sale, reported price

2012: 4675 GT, $25 million *Private sale, reported price

2012: 3505 GT, $35 million *Private sale, reported price

2012: 5095 GT, $52 million *Private sale, reported world record

2014: 3851 GT, $38.1 million *Bonhams auction, world auction record

2017: 3387 GT, $56 million *Private sale, reported world record

2018: 4153 GT, $70+ million *Private sale, reported world record

2018: 3413 GT, $48.4 million *RM Sotheby’s auction, world auction record

The post Market Watch: 1962-1964 Ferrari 250 GTO appeared first on Automobile Magazine.

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Market Watch: 1962-1964 Ferrari 250 GTO

By now you have probably heard the news: A 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO sold at RM Sotheby’s Monterey auction in August for $48,405,000—a world-record price for a car sold at any auction. Why would anyone spend the better part of $50 million on a car? The short answer is because they can. The long answer is more complicated.

The End of an Era

If you read Automobile, you are likely at least aware of the rarefied air the 250 GTO inhales through its six downdraft Weber carburetors. Across the last decade, the car, with its distinguished aluminum bodywork and a 3.0-liter Colombo V-12 engine, has continued to establish itself as perhaps the premier collectible postwar classic car. Ferrari built just 33 Series I 250 GTOs with the original and more traditional early bodywork, in addition to three more Series II cars with revised sheetmetal for total production of just 36 cars.

Superstar Car: All eyes (and cell phone cameras) were glued to the front of the room as this 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO became the most expensive car to ever sell at auction.

The 250 GTO’s legacy is the stuff of legend. Essentially the last of the true dual-purpose road racers, able to compete on a track and drive home afterward, the 250 GTO (250cc of displacement per cylinder, and Gran Turismo Omologato designating its competition-homologated status) was the ultimate evolution of Ferrari’s front-engine 250 GT series. These 250 GT cars were sold in both road and race spec, but their basic engines and chassis were very similar, and the series really put Ferrari on the map as a credible production carmaker. Today Ferrari as a marque is often said to be the most recognized worldwide.

“You’ve got a roadgoing race car that won many of the big events in Europe and the United States in its day, and it was a romantic time in racing—we loved all the drivers,”

But make no mistake, the 250 GTO, in contrast to the brand’s 250 GT/L or Lusso road car, was made for a single purpose: to contest and win the 1962 FIA GT 3.0-liter international racing class. Which it accomplished. And then it did so again in 1963, besting competition from Jaguar’s new E-type Lightweight and Shelby’s AC-based and Ford-powered Cobra. Its successor, the mid-engine 250 LM, began a motorsports era in which serious race cars drifted ever further away from any premise of road use.

Our subject car was given new Series 2 sheetmetal in 1964.

“You’ve got a roadgoing race car that won many of the big events in Europe and the United States in its day, and it was a romantic time in racing—we loved all the drivers,” says Wayne Carini, owner of classic car dealership F40 Motorsports and host of Motor Trend Network’s “Chasing Classic Cars.” “Until recently, not many GTOs have been sold at auction; they’ve all been traded very privately.”

Like MacNeil’s GTO, this one still has its original engine and gearbox and it was never crashed severely.

Southern California-based classic Ferrari specialist and broker Michael Sheehan adds, “The most prestigious [collector car] club is, of course, the GTO club, which buys access to rub shoulders with Lawrence Stroll, the McCaw brothers, Rob Walton, Nick Mason, Anthony Bamford, Charles Nearburg, Chip Connor, and the [rest] of the international super-rich who have their [GTO] owners’ meetings and literally jet from very private collection to very private collection to show whose is indeed bigger.”

A Recent High-Water Mark

One of those private sales occurred several months ago when a 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO, chassis No. 4153 GT, entered the collection of American David MacNeil, founder of WeatherTech, a large automotive floormats business whose advertisements you’ll find in this very magazine. The sale price was widely reported as being upward of $70 million, a new world-record sales price for any automobile in any venue. As GTOs go, many experts deemed No. 4153 GT as one of the finest. It is believed to retain its original Series I bodywork and its original engine, rarities for cars that have raced extensively. Its history includes an overall win at the prestigious 1964 Tour de France road race and fourth overall at the 1963 24 Hours of Le Mans. Its sale price was instrumental in our subject car arriving at RM Sotheby’s Monterey auction.

“The GTO that sold for more than $70 million was a different body style but still the same thing: a GTO,” Carini says. “That prompted this owner [businessman and vintage racer Gregory Whitten] to come forward because of the price of the previous sale, and he thought, ‘Well, maybe it’s time to sell mine while the market’s hot.’ The gentleman certainly didn’t need the money, but it was a decision based on many things. He was at a point in his life when he thought he wasn’t using it properly and it was time to cash his chips in.”

And yes, we can verify MacNeil’s GTO wears WeatherTech floormats.

A New Auction Record

Our subject car, chassis No. 3413 GT, was originally a Series I car, built in 1962, then rebodied in 1964 with the more streamlined but less iconic Series II panels. Like MacNeil’s GTO, this one still has its original engine and gearbox, and it was never crashed severely. With its Series I bodywork, it was driven at the 1962 Targa Florio by Phil Hill, just after he became the first American Formula 1 World Champion in 1961 at the wheel of a Ferrari. It then changed hands and went on to win its class at the 1963 Targa Florio, and, with new bodywork, it did the same in ’64.

RM Sotheby’s estimated No. 3413 GT would sell for between $45 million and $50 million when it crossed the block in August; bidding opened at $35 million. Over the course of about 10 minutes, a handful of bidders, mainly on the phone, calmly raised the price by increments of $1 million, then $250,000, until the car was resolutely announced sold at $48,405,000 including RM Sotheby’s commission. The bid soundly beat the previous auction record of $38,115,000, also set by a 250 GTO, chassis No. 3851 GT at Bonhams’ Quail Lodge sale in 2014.

So did MacNeil overpay for his $70 million GTO?

“I think MacNeil’s car was probably one of the best ones,” Carini says, “and the difference between a good car and a superb car, as we’re seeing, is about $25 million.

“[This latest] car had been rebodied in the day; I really like the body, but a lot of guys have a vision of what a GTO should look like, and this wasn’t that vision,” Carini continues. “This is sort of a cross between a [mid-engine 250] LM and a front-engine Ferrari. I think that held it back slightly in value.”

It’s no surprise that at the values these cars command, GTO buyers are a picky bunch.

And the Crystal Ball Says …

Is a $100 million 250 GTO in the near future? The odds are favorable.

first $100 million car,” Carini says. “I remember when one sold [long ago] for $2.5 million, and that was like, ‘Oh my god, that’s crazy!’ And then $10 million, and it was, ‘Oh my god, these can never go any further!’ So we just keep going. There are a lot of wealthy people in the world, people who have been very successful, and they like to reward themselves with something nobody else can have. And with 36 GTOs having been made, your chances to buy one are slim.”

WeatherTech founder David MacNeil paid more than $70 million for this 250 GTO with its most desirable Series 1 bodywork.

Sheehan’s take is similarly bullish: “At the peak of the price-point pyramid, the rich just keep getting richer and so the minuscule market for the best-of-the-best eight-figure trophy car remains strong.”

The rich do indeed get richer, and so do their buying habits. Last year, a painting of Jesus holding a crystal orb, dubbed “Salvator Mundi” and believed to be painted by Leonardo da Vinci around 1505, brought in $450 million at a Christie’s auction in Manhattan. On such a scale, a 250 GTO that can be experienced through driving and racing versus being hung on a wall can seem to be a good value.

No End in Sight

Known 250 GTO sales since 2010

2010: 4675 GT, $17 million *Private sale, reported price

2012: 4675 GT, $25 million *Private sale, reported price

2012: 3505 GT, $35 million *Private sale, reported price

2012: 5095 GT, $52 million *Private sale, reported world record

2014: 3851 GT, $38.1 million *Bonhams auction, world auction record

2017: 3387 GT, $56 million *Private sale, reported world record

2018: 4153 GT, $70+ million *Private sale, reported world record

2018: 3413 GT, $48.4 million *RM Sotheby’s auction, world auction record

The post Market Watch: 1962-1964 Ferrari 250 GTO appeared first on Automobile Magazine.

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