This Le Mans–Raced 1959 Ferrari Could Fetch $14 Million at Auction

The gold standard among Ferrari‘s most-coveted open-top models is, without argument, the sublime 250 GT California Spider. Only 100 or so were built between 1957 and 1963, with the roster of celebrity owners including the likes of James Coburn, Brigitte Bardot, Roger Vadim, and Ralph Lauren. Ferris Bueller’s car was, alas, a replica. Yet among these  California Spiders, one of the most exalted examples in existence is this 1959 long-wheelbase (LWB) Competizione, chassis No. 1451, that Hagerty’s Broad Arrow Auctions is offering at its Amelia Island sale in Florida on March 8.

“This is without doubt the crown jewel of all open Ferraris and, perhaps, the most desirable road-going convertible in the world today,” says Barney Ruprecht, Broad Arrow’s senior specialist and vice president of Auctions. Its credentials include being the second of only eight aluminum-bodied California Spiders ever produced. That, and the fact that it raced in the 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans, finishing third in class and fifth overall.

“It is the definitive example of Ferrari’s legendary dual-purpose sports car. What makes this car so revered is that it was equally capable of securing a podium finish at Le Mans, as well as taking best-in-show awards on the world’s most-exclusive concours fields,” says Ruprecht.

As for its racing debut at Le Mans in 1959, the story is still the stuff of legend. The car had been completed barely five days before it took to the grid as part of Luigi Chinetti’s North American Racing Team (N.A.R.T). Add to that, it was driven by its new owner, New York car dealer Robert “Bob” Grossman, who had never competed at Le Mans before. As for the car, Grossman recalled at the time that, in the rush to finish it, a “flash” of silver paint barely covered the bare body primer, and the unfinished seats were padded with “rags.”

To help give the vehicle its competitive edge, it was built to fabled Competizione spec. Features included a highly tuned version of Ferrari’s 3.0-liter Tipo 128 F Colombo V-12 featuring Testa Rossa high-lift camshafts, triple Weber 40 DCL6 carbs, and spark plugs mounted on the outside of the engine’s vee configuration for easier access. With a 9.6:1 compression ratio, the power plant packs an impressive-for-the-time 262 hp.

Straight after Le Mans, the car was returned to Maranello where it was finished off with a completed paint job—done in metallic silver—and given proper upholstery, the latter comprising bright-blue cloth. It was then shipped back to the U.S., where Grossman continued to race the car with considerable success, including victories at the Nassau Speed Week in the Bahamas and the Vanderbilt Cup Races at New York’s Roosevelt Raceway.

Grossman sold chassis No. 1451 in 1960, the car passing through various unrecorded owners until it surfaced in the early 1970s in the care of a Maryland banker. Fast forward to 1981 when it was bought by collector Jon Masterson of Long Beach, Calif.  

Masterson immediately commissioned a full restoration that included repainting the car in Rosso Corsa red with a tan leather interior. The extensive work was rewarded with first-in-class recognition at the 1983 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, followed by Best in Show at the 1984 Ferrari Club of America Concours at Lake Lanier, Ga.

Masterson embraced the California Spider’s dual-purpose role by campaigning the car at the Monterey Historics at Laguna Seca on four separate occasions, and taking part in the 1,000-mile Colorado Grand rally in 1990. In 2007, he sold it to well-known New York Ferrari collector Martin Gruss who exercised it extensively, including outings in the Copperstate 1000 rally across the Arizona desert. Two years after Gruss acquired the vehicle, it was dispatched to leading Ferrari specialist Wayne Obry’s Motion Products Inc., in Wisconsin, for its second full restoration. The undertaking returned the car to its original Le Mans race spec, including taking it back to that striking metallic silver hue and bright blue interior. The restoration was rewarded with a third-in-class at Pebble Beach in 2014.

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In 2017, chassis No. 1451 went across the auction block through RM Sotheby’s, selling for $17.99 million. Broad Arrow has an estimate of between $10 million and $14 million for the car when it’s auctioned on March 8, which, according to Ruprecht, reflects the continued softening market for high-end classic Ferraris.

“It also shows that the car is definitely for sale and that we are not out to test the market, get a bid, and negotiate in the moment. That said, we do expect this truly exceptional Ferrari to exceed our estimate.”

Click here for more photos of this 1959 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spider Competizione.