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Extremely Rare Ferrari 340 Mexico Coupe Up for Auction

The upcoming RM Auctions event at Amelia Island on March 12 will witness the sale of one of only three Ferrari 340 Mexico Coupes built, the auction house revealed. The 1952 example in question was the most successful of the three Ferrari team cars built specifically for the La Carrera Panamericana Mexican road race. The car is estimated at $2.75 million - $3.5 million.

Technical wise, the car is fitted with an Aurelio Lampredi-designed 280 hp, 4,101 cc SOHC V-12 engine, three Weber 40 mm DCF/3 carburetors, five-speed manual transmission, independent front suspension by double wishbone and transverse leaf spring, rear live axle with semi-elliptic leaf springs and trailing arms, as well as four-wheel hydraulic drum brakes.

More recently, the car has been displayed in the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum in Auburn, Indiana. It has also been displayed in Ken Behring’s Blackhawk Museum in Danville, California in April 1994.

“As presented, 0024 AT is an extraordinary car, carefully preserved and still retaining its original engine. For racing and Ferrari enthusiasts, it has all the desirable requirements – successful period racing history, eligibility for the world’s most desirable events (Mille Miglia included), well-known provenance (only 10 owners from new, including Cluxton), rarity and a light, attractive body combined with Lampredi-designed V-12, capable of stunning performance,” a statement from RM Auctions reads.

The original 1950-54 La Carrera Panamericana Mexican road race was the most dangerous road race in the world. No less than 27 competitors were killed on the newly completed Panamerican highway.

The original race event took place through over 2,100 miles. It involved nine stages in five days, with elevations ranging from sea level to 10,500 feet, temperatures from 120 degrees to near freezing and on surfaces from blacktop to loose gravel. Most of the race took place between 5,000 and 8,000 feet, and guardrails were virtually non-existent.
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