---
title: "1962 Ferrari 250 GTO Sells for Record-Breaking $48.4 Million at Monterey Auction"
description: "Even then, the famous Ferrari didn't meet its minimum price estimate."
date: "2018-08-26"
modified: "2018-08-26"
authors:
  - name: "James Gilboy"
    job_title: "Contributing Writer"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/james-gilboy.md"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/23150/1962-ferrari-250-gto-sells-for-record-breaking-48-4-million-at-monterey-auction"
categories:
  - "Car Buying"
  - "Ferrari News"
  - "News"
  - "News by Brand"
tags:
  - "2018 Monterey Car Week"
  - "classic cars"
  - "Ferrari"
  - "Ferrari 250 GTO"
  - "Monterey Historics"
  - "News"
  - "racing"
  - "Racing News"
  - "RM Sotheby's"
---

# 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO Sells for Record-Breaking $48.4 Million at Monterey Auction

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2018/08/94c11b2e0aee6a8182a1116eab676cd4f0707bb61.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

A 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO sold at auction for $48.4 million on Saturday night, successfully breaking the world record for the most expensive car ever to be sold at auction.

The pristine Prancing Horse sold at the RM Sotheby's auction in Monterey, California, where its bidding started at a hefty $35 million. As this [video](<https://youtu.be/_-gE8GSTX5A>) shows, bids climbed incrementally during the seven-minute-long bidding extravaganza, eventually reaching a hammer price of $44 million—just slightly short of its [$45-million](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/21652/45m-ferrari-250-gto-test-car-is-most-expensive-car-ever-sold-at-public-auction.md>) estimate. An additional 10 percent commission was added on top of the winning bid, netting an out-the-door price of $4,405,000.

![message-editor%2F1535312938521-65e33d1c359f87d7fe7fd20dd9f77b4b1e968233.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/message-editor/1535312938521-65e33d1c359f87d7fe7fd20dd9f77b4b1e968233.jpg>)
**RM Sotheby's**

This particular 250 GTO is chassis number 3413 GT and it was the third vehicle built by Ferrari. It was driven in the 1962 Targa Florio by reigning Formula 1 world champion Phil Hill, and in the hands of Gianni Bulgari the following two years. This particular car was last sold in 2000 to Dr. Greg Whitten, a software lead at [Microsoft](<https://www.thedrive.com/tech/20743/dji-partners-with-microsoft-to-develop-tablet-apps-for-dji-drones.md>) during the company's ascent. Whitten raced it on multiple occasions.

"My journey with the 250 GTO has come to an end, but I am excited to see how this fantastic car is enjoyed by the new owner," Dr. Whitten told [*Auto Classics*](<https://www.autoclassics.com/posts/news/phil-hill-ferrari-250-gto-auction>). "They will have seen the seemingly unbelievable list of superlatives that are used to describe it—legendary, historic, holy grail—but I can assure them that once they get behind the wheel, they will understand that every one of them is true."

![message-editor%2F1535312958877-7ee5ac3171c37c60f59ee7439e1f9436e38b9466.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/message-editor/1535312958877-7ee5ac3171c37c60f59ee7439e1f9436e38b9466.jpg>)
**RM Sotheby's.**

"This marks just the third time that a GTO has been offered for public sale in the new millennium," said car specialist for RM Sotheby's Shelby Myers.

Another 250 GTO was sold privately earlier this year for an alleged [$80 million](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/21249/1963-ferrari-250-gto-reportedly-sells-for-80m-to-weathertech-ceo.md>) to the CEO of Weathertech. It's believed that the 250 GTO—the most valuable model of car in the world by far—may cross the $100 million threshold within the next few decades. We can only wait to find out if that'll be true.

https://youtube.com/embed/_-gE8GSTX5A

## Author
James is a former staff writer for The Drive. He has changed the conversation around electrification, debunked misinformation online, and become a prominent hunter of what he calls "automotive cryptids."

### Author social links  
[Instagram](<https://instagram.com/jamesgilboy>)

## More

- [$45M Ferrari 250 GTO May Be Most Expensive Car Ever Sold at Public Auction](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/21652/45m-ferrari-250-gto-test-car-is-most-expensive-car-ever-sold-at-public-auction.md>)
- [1959 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Sells for a Cool $18 Million](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/16792/1959-ferrari-250-gt-lwb-california-sells-for-a-cool-18-million.md>)
- [This $56 Million Ferrari 250 GTO Could Become the Most Expensive Car in the World](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/5968/this-56-million-ferrari-250-gto-could-become-the-most-expensive-car-in-the-world.md>)
- [This 1,500-Mile Ferrari LaFerrari Aperta Could Fetch $8.5 Million at Auction](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/25669/this-1500-mile-ferrari-laferrari-aperta-could-fetch-8-5-million-at-auction.md>)
- [This Aston Martin DP215 Le Mans Prototype Could Sell for $25M at Monterey](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/22401/this-aston-martin-dp215-le-mans-prototype-could-sell-for-25m-at-monterey.md>)
- [This Historic Porsche 908 K Is Going to Auction at Monterey](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/18921/this-historic-porsche-908-k-is-going-to-auction-at-monterey.md>)
- [One-of-Five 1962 Ferrari 196 SP Race Car Expected to Sell for $8M-$10M at Monterey](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/29397/one-of-five-1962-ferrari-196-sp-race-car-expected-to-sell-for-8m-10m-at-monterey.md>)
- [This Ferrari 275 P for Sale Might Be Ferrari’s Most Historic Race Car Ever](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/22943/this-ferrari-275-p-for-sale-might-be-ferraris-most-historic-race-car-ever.md>)