According to Forbes, there are 2,755 billionaires in the world, and 500 more surfaced in the past year. It’s also estimated that across the globe, there are more than 20 million millionaires lurking among us. That’s a lot of private jets, big houses, and enviable car collections out there.
And among these super-rich individuals, there exists an elite car club - “The GTO Club”. This is an exclusive club of Uber-rich members that are willing to part with eye-watering sums of money to get a hold of what can only be described as the trophy of all cars - the awesome Ferrari 250 GTO.
Some examples of these lucky club members are; fashion mogul Ralph Lauren, the Walmart heir Rob Walton, and Canadian businessman and part-owner of the Aston Martin F1 racing team, Lawrence Stroll.
The Exclusive "GTO Club"
When you look over some of the previous sales of GTO’s in the past ten years, you get a picture of what it actually costs to become a member of this ostentatious club. The loud and excitable British DJ and TV presenter Chris Evans bought a 250 GTO at RM Auctions in 2010 for $17.7 million.
In 2012, an anonymous buyer picked up one from a real estate agent in the UK for $31.7 million. And in that same year, Craig McCaw, an American Telecoms typhoon, purchased one privately for $25 million to add to his 400+ car collection. The following year, another private sale saw a GTO exchange hands for a cool $52 million.
Then, in 2014, the auctioneer Bonhams also put the hammer down on one of these hugely sought-after rides, again at $52 million. Three years later, Gregor Fisken, former racing driver and classic car dealer, shelled out $44 million to join the prestigious GTO club.
If some of the above numbers already have you gasping for air, then you’ll be even more surprised with the events that took place in 2018. Because, during that year, a man named David MacNeil of Chicago, USA, the founder of the automotive accessory manufacturer WeatherTech, bought a silver 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO (chassis number #4293GT) for a jaw-dropping $70 million. The highest price ever paid for a car.
Let’s have a quick look at some of the things that you could spend $70 million on (not including charity gifting or using the money to make the world a better place). If you fancy some peace and quiet, you could get yourself a 3,000-acre island in the South Pacific (near Fiji) to relax at and top up your suntan. Or, if you fancy a piece of real estate, you could buy Richard Branson’s Caribbean Mansion on the lovely Necker Island, which you could rent out at $42,000 a night if you want to bring in a little extra cash.
Or perhaps you’re a football fan, and you fancy building your own stadium, you could personally design the seating so that you get the best seat in the house at every game. Or if you like jewelry, you could buy the flawless 60ct Pink Star diamond which comes from a South Africa mine, that would be a lovely ornament for your home. Or, if you love watching movies, perhaps you would prefer to direct and produce your very own Hollywood blockbuster. You could give yourself the headline, leading role, and you could even choose who you want your co-star to be. How cool would that be?
In all seriousness, classic car values appear to have risen sharply in the last couple of decades. Initially, we saw big rises in the 1980s, followed by quite substantial falls in the '90s. In 1994, a 250 GTO fetched just $2.7 million, and it wasn’t until the late '90s that they started to climb again. And they’re still rising today, at a mesmerizing pace.
One has to ask - when will it stop? Or are we likely to see one of these rare Italian cars actually sell for $100 million soon (grimace)?
So what is it about this no-frills, old Italian race car that makes it so appealing?
The Trophy: Ferrari 250 GTO
Well, Ferrari only made 36 of them between 1962 and 1964, so they're extremely rare. The sheer scarcity of these awesome rides is a major factor in their desirability. When money is no object, and nothing is out of your reach, you're likely to turn to things that are out of your reach. So, the GTO has become quite a target for many car-loving billionaires, who love the chase of the purchase just as much as the object.
But the 250 GTO has an interesting history too. During the car’s development, there was a major dispute between Enzo Ferrari and his chief designer at the time, Giotto Bizzarrini, which culminated in most of the Ferrari engineering team being fired. And when Ferrari took the car to the race circuits back in 1962, they somehow managed to elude FIA regulations.
The FIA rules, at the time, required a carmaker to build one hundred production units of a car before it was allowed to qualify for a place on the race circuits. But Ferrari only made 36 GTOs. They cheekily skipped chassis sequence numbers and shuffled cars around different locations to give the illusion that they were meeting the FIA’s regulations, and it worked.
Another key reason is the GTO is just awesome to look at. With it’s Scaglietti-constructed, aerodynamic body-shell, long swooping hood, beautifully crafted cockpit, and shaved-off rear end, it is absolutely stunning. Ferrari produced the 250s in an array of different colors, but the most famous is the bright red "Rosso Cina”, which really stands out from the rest. However, David MacNeil’s car is finished in silver and it has a French tricolore stripe running along the length of the car.
When you look inside the car you can really see its race focus. To keep the weight down (to just 1,940 lbs), Ferrari used aluminum for the body, minimalized the dash, left out carpet, used cloth seats, and didn’t bother with any headlining. Under the hood, they packed it with a 3 Liter Tipo 168/62 Colombo V12 engine that produced 296 bhp, giving it a top speed of 174 mph and a zero to sixty timing of 5.4 seconds (according to Topspeed). So you can have some real fun with this car on a track circuit too; if your insurance company will allow it (smile).
High on the wish list of any potential buyer is a rich race history; this can add millions of dollars to the value of one of these amazing cars. The $70 million car took its first race win in 1963 at the 500 km race at Spa, and went on to take class wins at Le Mans, Tour de France, Zolder and Reims.
And on these circuits, it would have competed against the likes of Jaguar, Aston Martin, and Shelby Cobra. Many GTOs suffered from crashes during their racing careers, but if you can find one like David MacNeil’s which hasn’t been race damaged, as you can see, it can fetch an even bigger premium. Today, his car is stored below the ground in a vault below the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, where its just sitting around, gaining value.
Experts are predicting that since the number of billionaires is growing, and the number of Ferrari collectors is also on the up, that these exclusive 250 GTO cars, which remain constant in number, will continue to rise in value. It’s so remarkable to think that this car had an original retail price of just $18,500! I wonder if Enzo Ferrari had any idea, back in the '60s, that these early racing machines would become the hottest cars of all time, and that the value of each one could possibly equal the worth of the gross national debt of a small country.