Value-added: how art advisers help collectors
5 October 2020Ahead of the Field
Ferrari celebrated its 70th birthday in 2017 and the famous prancing horse still seems to be leading the way in the desirability stakes
A n old metallic blue sports car recently went on sale in London. If someone pays the full price, the little two-seater will become the world’s most expensive car… ever.
The badge on the car should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed the classic car market in recent years. The enormous value of an old Ferrari like this is a fitting demonstration of the success of a marque that is celebrating its 70th birthday in 2017.
The blue sports car is the second of just 39 GTOs that were built in the early 1960s. It is on sale at London Ferrari specialists Talacrest for £45m/$56.8m at the time of writing.
If the GTO sells for its full asking price it will completely eclipse the present record for a car sale, which stands at $38m. Of course, that was also set by a Ferrari.
As it’s a private sale we may never know the final price, but a closer look at the global classic car markets shows there are already two other GTOs for sale at potentially world-beating prices. The GTOs are being offered privately for $57m. One is in France, the other in New York.
GTO ownership has become something of a billionaires’ cult, but it is by no means the only ultra-desirable Ferrari on offer. A few months ago a different model almost overtook the record at an auction in Paris. This time it was a 1957 Ferrari 335 S Spider Scaglietti, which sold for £24.6m ($35.9m).
Whichever of these beautiful old cars happens to hold the record for the priciest four-wheeler of all time, one thing is certain: one brand has a cast iron grip on that title. Seven of the highest-priced 10 cars ever sold at auction were made by Ferrari.
While the manufacturer makes nothing directly from the sale of one its old classics at auction, the marque benefits enormously from the suggestion of longevity, soaring values and desirability.
The 70th anniversary of the founding of the Italian carmaker is an appropriate time to consider what has made its products reach such a pinnacle of desirability.
Marketing, racing success and celebrity endorsement have all played their part, but ultimately it is the quality of the vehicles that has allowed the prancing horse to gallop so far ahead of the field.
Ferrari doesn’t seem to have faltered since its amicable divorce from Fiat in 2016. It has always championed exquisite design and technical excellence. The designers have never resorted to earning a quick buck by producing a family hatchback or four-door executive saloon. The company has stuck to exclusive, high-end sports cars. It keeps production numbers low and performance high.
From the early days, when Enzo Ferrari would personally vet buyers, the company has been a master at creating an aloof image
There’s also more than a little shrewd management behind the scenes. From the early days, when Enzo Ferrari would personally vet buyers to see if they were the right sort, the company has been a master at creating an aloof image that has constantly teased buyers.
For example, to celebrate the company’s 70th anniversary, Ferrari bosses announced a series of unique anniversary models. Not the normal one or two special editions that any lesser brand would offer, but an incredible 350 different ones.
The way these cars are marketed is clever. Ferrari has created 70 different ‘liveries’ or colour schemes that each refer to some famous car, event or owner from the past.
For example, these include the brown paint and tan leather interior of Steve McQueen’ s 1963 GTO or the blue bodywork with a white stripe driven to victory by Stirling Moss in 1961. Meanwhile ‘The Schumacher’ is red, of course, with distinctive details that include yellow gear paddleshifts.
They are producing each one of their five current models in all of these 70 trims, making a total of 350 unique cars, all at a massive price premium.
Ferrari knows that its buyers value exclusivity and has created a whole generation of collectors’ cars. Perhaps one day in the future one of them could become the world’s most expensive car sold at an auction. It’s certainly possible. Excited enough to want one? Sorry, you’re too late; they’ve sold the lot already.
In fact, pre-launch demand was so high that some buyers wanted to buy all five in a certain livery. Ferrari says they only allowed one per customer ‘to be fair’.
When Enzo started badging his racing cars with a stallion on a yellow triangle back in 1947, did he ever envisage his products reaching such a pinnacle? His first car to sport the Ferrari badge was the rather boxy looking 125 S. The V12-engined car made a disastrous debut on the Piacenza circuit. Enzo described it as ‘a promising failure’. His optimism was not misplaced. Within four months the 125 S had won six races and Ferrari was on its way.
Fast forward 70 years and Enzo’s empire now includes many of the fastest, most glamorous and definitely most expensive cars on the planet. It is one of the world’s most powerful brands.
That they have become a motoring status symbol is shown by the list of owners of those 39 GTOs from the 1960s. They include fashion mogul Ralph Lauren, Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason, Walmart boss Rob Walton, JCB founder Lord Bamford, tycoon Baron Laidlaw, phone billionaire Craig McGraw and Microsoft supremos Jon Shirley and Greg Whitten.
Even with the most sought-after Ferraris, however, a little hindsight would take an investor a long way. For much of the 1970s the GTO was a relatively unloved model. In 1973 one sold for just £7,000, but the pride of place in terms of a motoring bargain of the century must go to the lucky buyer at a Kruse International Auction in 1969. The unknown buyer picked up one of what is now the world’s most valuable car model, a Ferrari GTO, for just $2,500 (£2,000).
Words: Staff
Ferrari knows the value of exclusivity. It announced it would only make a limited run of 200 Apertas
The New Aperta
Car collectors wanting to join Ferrari’s 70th birthday party were given another option to the 350 special edition livery cars: buy the new LaFerrari Aperta.
High performanceThis open-top version of the LaFerrari was unveiled at the Paris Motor Show in October. Its connection to the birthday was simply a discreet 70th anniversary logo.
It’s clearly a fabulous car. The Aperta uses the same hybrid powertrain as the supercar hardtop: a 6.2-litre V12 and 120kw electric motor. Expect a 0-60mph time of under three seconds. The Aperta’s price was a surprise, however, at around $2m. That’s almost $600,000 more for essentially the same car without a roof.
More buyers than carsFerrari knows the value of exclusivity. It announced it would only make a limited run of 200 Apertas. If you’re reading this and decide you would like one, even at $2m, I’m afraid I’ve got to disappoint you again. They were all sold, sight unseen, way before the launch. Buyers included celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay.
In fact, sales requests were triple the available cars. One collector was so enraged he failed to buy an Aperta, he sued Ferrari for leaving him off the list of 200 preferential customers. He claimed that without the car, his reputation was damaged. The case was dismissed. The Aperta proved the point that special editions underpin the Ferrari cachet. They always seem to judge it so there are far more customers than cars available. ‘For us, a limited edition is a way to reward our most dedicated clients,’ Ferrari’s head of sales and marketing Enrico Galliera told the press at the Aperta launch. ‘These 200 customers bought the car without having seen it; they went with faith.’