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Most Expensive Car Sold at Auction Is This Ferrari 335 S Scaglietti

Shortly after 18:50 on February 5, the gavel of Maitre Hervé Poulain struck against a sound block at the 2016 Retromobile Salon, announcing that the 1957 Ferrari 335 S Scaglietti sold for $35,711,359 (€32,075,200 or £24,693,782 at current exchange rates). Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands up for the most expensive car ever sold at auction.
1957 Ferrari 335 S Scaglietti (most expensive car sold at auction) 9 photos
Photo: Artcurial Motorcars
1957 Ferrari 335 S Scaglietti (most expensive car sold at auction)1957 Ferrari 335 S Scaglietti (most expensive car sold at auction)1957 Ferrari 335 S Scaglietti (most expensive car sold at auction)1957 Ferrari 335 S Scaglietti (most expensive car sold at auction)1957 Ferrari 335 S Scaglietti (most expensive car sold at auction)1957 Ferrari 335 S Scaglietti (most expensive car sold at auction)1957 Ferrari 335 S Scaglietti (most expensive car sold at auction)1957 Ferrari 335 S Scaglietti (most expensive car sold at auction)
Wait a second, wasn’t a 250 GTO that sold for $38.1 million the most expensive car sold at auction? Due to the intricate ways of currency conversion, it still is. But in terms of Euro and British pounds sterling, the 335 S Scaglietti is the record holder. A question has to be posed, though - who in the world would pay the equivalent to 450 units of the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 to buy a Ferrari that was new almost six decades ago?

Someone with plenty of money to spare. The winning bidder’s identity hasn’t been made public, but that was to be expected. All we know is that Poulain started the bidding at €20 million, then bids rose rapidly to €32,075,200. The thing is, that mountain of European currency bought the winning bidder a Ferrari, which isn’t only beautiful and fast but it also has a fascinating racing history.

After it left the workshop in 1957, the Scaglietti-bodied Prancing Horse finished the Sebring 12 Hours on a respectable 6th. At the Mille Miglia in May, the Ferrari 335 S Scaglietti finished 2nd behind Piero Taruffi’s Ferrari. Then came the 24 Heures du Mans, where Mike Hawthorn and Luigi Musso went to set the first lap record in the history of Le Mans of over 200 km/h, specifically 203.015 km/h or 126.147 mph.

With Stirling Moss and Masten Gregory at the wheel, the Prancing Horse won the Cuba Grand Prix. After that, the car was driven in various races in America, then it changed hands multiple times until astute collector Pierre Bardinon bought it from American architect Robert N. Dusek.

The property of Bardinon for more than 40 years, this 390 horsepower V12 thunderbolt is an incredibly rare racing car with amazing racing history and fantastic provenance. The one-of-four Ferrari 335 S Scaglietti is a pure racing car, unlike the Ferrari 250 GTO, which was a dual purpose affair also homologated for street use. That's right - the most expensive car ever sold at auction isn’t street legal. What a bummer!

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About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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