Gstaad / Switzerland, December 20, 2002
Several years ago, December used to be a not too important month for European
Ferraristi as far as Ferrari events were concerned. The situation changed in 1998,
when Brooks auctioneers held their first ”Ferrari only” sale in the as famous as
exclusive Swiss winter resort of Gstaad. Names may change, but British traditions
don’t: On December 20, 2002 Bonhams — formerly known as Brooks and
Bonhams & Brooks — gathered Ferrari enthusiasts from all over the world for the
fifth year in a row at their Ferrari sale in Gstaad. Again held at the prestigious
Palace Hotel, the auction — that also included a sale of Patek Philippe
wristwatches and fine diamond jewellery — attracted the usual ”who is who” of the
Ferrari world. To the delight of many of the attendants, loads of snow had turned
the Saanenland region into a more than adequate winter dreamland, thus
providing the right setting for this strategically scheduled pre-Christmas sale.
The two star lots of the sale were the two oldest cars of the day: Firstly, the oldest
Ferrari in existence, the 166 Spider Corsa s/n 002C, entered by the Geneva-based
Ferrari Holdings, and the impressive one-off 375 MM Coupé Ghia s/n 0476AM
from the stable of noted Swiss collector Erich Traber. Bids on both lots didn’t meet
the expectations of the vendors during the auction, but s/n 002C was sold to an
unknown Swiss enthusiast in the aftersale on Saturday, December 21st. The
historically important Ferrari fetched 1.086.000,-SFr. Bidding for Erich Traber’s
375 MM, originally built for the Milwaukee-based industrialist Bob Wilke, stopped
at 1.300.000,-SFR — very much to the surprise of the author who had expected a
sale of the car to the United States where this unique Ferrari would be the perfect
Concours d’Elégance contestant.
Another ”big gun” had been entered in the sale by a British enthusiast: 250 GT
SWB Berlinetta Competizione s/n 2209GT, sold new in 1960 to the French
privateer Jo Schlesser. The white with green SWB had been crashed in the
1960’s and was rebodied as a very strange looking coupé by Drogo. In the early
1980’s, s/n 2209GT was restored back to original specifications with a SWB body
made in England. Its engine had found a new home in 250 GT SWB Berlinetta s/n
2269GT in the meantime — hence s/n 2209GT was fitted with a 250 GTE engine
that was brought to competition specs (and renumbered as ”2209GT A”). Bidding
for the car stopped at 900.000,-SFr and thus the white Competition Berlinetta
remained with its long-time owner for the moment.
Remarkable were the incredible 597.350,-SFr that Swiss collector Peter
Heuberger paid for the immaculate 250 GT Lusso s/n 5367GT. This Lusso has a
nice (Swiss) competition history with Charly Müller and Heini Walter who drove the
car in the 1964 Tour de France Automobile. Charles Müller also took it to several
hillclimb events in the 1960’s. This racing pedigree makes this — now totally
restored — 250 GT Lusso eligible for the Shell Ferrari Maserati Historic
Challenge, and so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the lovely car again in some
historic racing events in the near future.
250 GT Lussos are obviously much asked for at the moment: Another example,
s/n 5303GT, part of an entire Swiss-owned collection that had been entered in the
Bonhams sale, was hammered at 332.060,-SFr. Having been formerly owned by
Swiss ace Jo Siffert and later by the Swiss artist Jean Tinguely, it was quite
surprising that this very original car didn’t sell to a Swiss buyer, but went to the UK
instead.
A gentleman from Madrid hat entered two cars as late entries in the auction: A
slightly tatty 365 GTC (s/n 12123), and a black 330 GTS (s/n 9771) in similar
condition. While the 365 GTC remained unsold, the rare 330 GTS — one of 100
made — went to the well-known Belgian Ferrarista Philippe Lancksweert. If this
nice Ferrari should be the subject to a — needed — restoration, it should be
repainted in its original metallic green livery.
One of the secret stars for the insiders was the incredibly original 275 GTB/4 s/n
10307: The stunning 1967 Ferrari, still wearing its original paintwork of Azzurro
metallizzato, has covered a mere 14.000 miles during the last 35 years and is one
of the desired examples with a real ”time-capsule effect”. In recent years, s/n
10307 had been sold via Swiss specialist company Oldtimer Garage Ltd. to a
collector in Argentina. At Bonhams’ Gstaad auction, it found a new home for
641.750,-SFr, reportedly in Texas.
The genuine 365 GTS/4 Daytona Spider s/n 14737 remained unsold at a high bid
of 410.000,-SFr, although it had been sold new in 1971 to the famous stuntman
Evel Knievel. Same fun for less money was represented at Gstaad by a perfectly
done and meticulously restored 365 GTB/S4 Daytona Spyder conversion: s/n
13425 had been part of the aforementioned Swiss collection, and the 258.800,-
SFr that were eventually needed to get it to one’s garage were for sure just a
fraction of the money that had been spent on its restoration by Swiss specialist
Edi Wyss.
Much money had been invested in the creation of a nice 365 GTB/4 Daytona
Competition Conversion (s/n 15723): The German owner had it created by the
respected Dutch restorer Piet Roelofs who specializes in Competition Daytonas.
Since it cannot be used in the desirable historic racing events, bidding stopped at
230.000,-SFr only, leaving the car with the vendor.
Three Formula One cars had been brought to the underground car park of the
Palace Hotel. In advance, the author had considered the market for F1 cars as
rather poor at the moment, and his believe was confirmed: None of the single
seaters did sell, although one of them was the desirable one-off 312 B3
”Spazzaneve” (”Snowplough”) s/n 009, named after its experimental front spoiler.
The two other monoposti came from the same Italian stable: 312 T5 s/n 044 and
126 C4 s/n 072. Well, the 312 T5 had been a very bad car in the 1980 Formula
One season, and since then they have never been much looked after, and the 126
C4 from the turbo era can hardly be kept alive on the track nowadays and is more
suitable as a display car.
Cars that sold were a 250 GTE, two 330 GT 2+2s, a lovely 275 GTS, a 365 GT 2+2,
a Dino 246 GT and some other ”smaller” Ferrari. It’s hard to give a verdict on this
Ferrari auction: The results — more than 61% of the cars were sold — don’t
necessarily reflect a deflation of the market values at the top end. It’s more likely
that there was simply not the ”right” buyer for the great 375 MM at the moment, and
that the 250 GT SWB Berlinetta Competizione s/n 2209GT with its so-so history
was simply not the right example of this normally much sought-after model. The
sales of the majority of the ”small” and ”medium” Ferrari — in regard to their
values — that were on offer at the Bonhams auction clearly show that there is still
a strong demand for Ferrari, although the world’s economic situation is pretty
lousy these days. But quality is important: Less expensive models in average or
poor condition don’t sell since the costs for having them refurbished or even
restored would require very enthusiastic buyers willing to spend more money on a
specific car than the latter’s market value would be. Restored or perfectly original
examples continue to fetch good prices and are sometimes even sold for much
more money than one would expect.
In 2003, the Bonhams Ferrari Auction will take place at the Gstaad Palace Hotel
on December 19.
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