VINTAGE: Ferrari Smashes Auction Record

The 1957 250 Testa Rossa prototype hits $16.39 million Saturday at Gooding's Pebble Beach auction, topping the previous record by more than $4 million.

The 1957 prototype of the Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa set a world record Saturday as the highest car ever sold at auction, reaching an eye-popping $16.39 million, including buyer’s fee, at Gooding & Company’s sale at Pebble Beach.

Collector-car experts were forecasting that the first-ever Testa Rossa would beat the previous auction record, but the final bid surpassed the expectations and then some. The previous high sale for a Ferrari at auction was just over $12 million for a Ferrari 259 TR sold by RM Auctions in Maranello, Italy.

Ferrari experst had forecast that the Testa Rossa prototype would beat the existing auction sale record. (Photo: Gooding & Company)

The names of neither the buyer nor the seller were immediately available. The packed house of spectators and bidders at the Gooding sale erupted into wild applause as the auctioneer hammered the car “SOLD!”

Although the Gooding sale rang the bell for highest auction sale ever, it’s still not the highest Ferrari price tag: private sales of 250 GTO race cars have reached nearly double that amount.

The prototype and running test bed of the Scaglietti-designed Testa Rossa with its evocative pontoon fenders was the first of the remarkable V12-powered racers that shook the sports-car racing world in the late 1950s, and from its inception has been admired as one of the most beautiful sports cars ever created.

Saturday’s Gooding auction sold more than $41 million in collector cars, including these cars selling for more than a million dollars (including 10 percent buyer fees):

• 1959 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California, $3,355,000.

• 1963 Shelby Cobra 289 Factory Team Car, $2,585,000.

• 1953 Ferrari 375 Vignale Coupe, $2,200,000.

• 1964 Porsche 904 Carrera GTS, $1,210,000.

• 1972 Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona Spider, $1,025,000.

• 1965 Ferrari 275 GTB. $1,001,000.

Bob Golfen, Automotive Editor for SPEED.com, is a veteran auto writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, with a passion for collector cars, car culture and the automotive lifestyle. SPEED.com fans can email Bob Golfen at bgolfen@gmail.com