A couple of months back, auction house Bonhams had announced that one of the rarest Ferrari race cars ever made was set to go up for bid at the Quail Auction during Monterey Car Week, with the possibility of a new auction record being created. Well, the extremely rare automobile in question is a 1967 Ferrari 412P Berlinetta and it managed to sell for a whopping $30.25 million at the auction on Friday. While the final sale price couldn’t reach close to the pre-auction estimate of $40 million, the one-of-two Ferrari 412P Berlinetta did set a new Bonhams auction record.
Often regarded as one of the most beautiful race cars of all time, the sculpted body of the 412P was crafted by none other than Pininfarina. The Ferrari 412P Berlinetta is part of the family of sports prototype race cars produced by Ferrari in the 1960s and early 1970s. This particular example was produced in 1967 as a customer version of the 330 P3. Chassis number 0854 was purchased by Colonel Ronnie Hoare’s Maranello Concessionaires racing team and was one of two privateer 412P cars campaigned that year. Featuring a racing livery that combined Italian racing red with Cambridge blue, the Ferrari was piloted by Richard Attwood and Lucien Bianchi to take third overall in the Belgian Spa 1,000 Kilometers. This helped the Italian manufacturer secure its title in the 1967 World Championship of Makes.
The Ferrari 412P was later purchased by David Piper who took it to the Paris 1,000 Kilometers, Kyalami 9-Hours, and the Cape Town 3-Hours. It stayed with Piper for the 1968-1969 season, winning at the 1968 Nuremberg 200 Kilometers at the Norisring, the Solituderennen at Hockenheim, and the Swedish Grand Prix. The race car even had a lucky escape during the 1969 East London 500 Kilometers in South Africa, where it was almost destroyed in a fire. The same year, the iconic Ferrari was brought to the US after being purchased by Chris Cord, grandson of the creator of Cord luxury cars. Since then, the car has been owned by several well-known collectors, including Sir (later Lord) Anthony Bamford, Sir Paul Vestey, John McCaw, and Bruce McCaw.
Before being auctioned last week, the ultra-rare Ferrari remained with the same owner since 2005. He put the 412P Berlinetta through a painstaking nine-year restoration that included the refurbishment of its original bodywork and race livery from its days with Col. Ronnie Hoare’s Team. The race car is also believed to be road-worthy, road-legal, and regularly road-driven. It is powered by a 4.0-liter 24-valve naturally aspirated V12, which can produce 420 horsepower and redline at 8,000 rpm. There’s no word on the mystery buyer who shelled out $30.25 million on this beauty.
