Enlarge image
Ferrari 410 Sport Spider
Photo:
Patrick Ernzen / RM Sotheby's
Under the hammer:
The Ferrari 410 Sport Spider from 1955 with the chassis and engine number 0598 CM.
Only four examples of this type were built and the car on offer is by far the most successful of the quartet.
The car competed in almost 40 races between 1956 and 1958, taking 11 victories and 19 podium finishes.
US racing legend Carroll Shelby made his breakthrough with this Ferrari.
Why bid?
The question can be answered in many different ways.
This Ferrari 410 Sport Spider is special because some of the best and most talented racing drivers of the 1950s held its three-spoke steering wheel in their hands.
Among them Juan Manuel Fangio, Carroll Shelby, Phil Hill, Eugenio Castellotti, Richie Ginther and Joakim Bonnier.
In addition, the Texan racing driver and designer Carroll Shelby celebrated his greatest successes in exactly this car.
He won eight times with this racer and finished on the podium a further ten times.
Shelby entered the car for the first time at the Seafair race in Bremerton in the US state of Washington in August 1956 - and he promptly left all competitors behind.
Shelby later said the 410 Sport Spider was "the best Ferrari I've ever driven."
There are also some technical reasons that give the car with chassis number 0598 CM an exceptional position.
It was one of only two models of this type to be fitted with the 4.9-litre V12 engine with dual ignition and three twin Weber carburettors.
The other two cars had single ignition engines under the hood.
The engine designed by Aurelio Lampardi develops almost 400 hp and, in combination with the elegantly stretched, supple, crouched body by Sergio Scaglietti, resulted in a brilliant racing car.
In the debut race in January 1956, the 1000 kilometers of Buenos Aires, Ferrari works drivers Juan Manuel Fangio and Eugenio Castellotti reached a top speed of 303 km/h and set a new lap record with an average speed of 165 km/h.
In addition to the big names and the impressive technology, there is also an extraordinary history.
Ferrari's 410 Sport Spider was originally destined to take part in the Carrera Panamericana, a long-distance race in Mexico, as early as 1955 - hence the abbreviation "CM" in the chassis number, which stands for "Carrera Messicana".
But the race was canceled after the Le Mans disaster, which killed 83 people.
The car therefore only made its debut in the Argentine capital in January 1956.
This race, in which the car retired with a damaged differential just before the finish, remained the Ferrari's only factory outing.
After the repairs in Maranello, company boss Enzo Ferrari decided to sell the car.
He ended up with John Edgar's racing team in Southern California.
Together with his driver Carroll Shelby - and later with several other drivers - he in turn celebrated a number of successes with the incredibly fast and fast vehicle.
That was a stroke of luck for Ferrari.
The racing victories increased the brand's popularity and earned it a reputation for building extremely robust racing cars.
The Ferrari 410 Sport Spider competed in its last races in 1959, and the following year John Edgar sold the car to Luigi Chinetti.
Further changes of ownership followed, including the car belonging to hotel entrepreneur Bill Marriott.
Two large-scale restorations also took place during this period, in close cooperation with Ferrari.
The car is still largely in its original condition.
Finally, in 2006, the car was bought by the current owner, an American car collector from Colorado.
At a California auto show where the vehicle was on display, Carroll Shelby reunited with his former sports machine and wrote the following quote on the aluminum tank: "Mr.
Ferrari told me that this was the best Ferrari he ever built.«
surcharge!
Auction house RM Sotheby's is offering the Ferrari 410 Sport Spider during Monterey Car Week, which runs August 12-21.
The auction at the Monterey Conference Center is scheduled for August 20th.
There is no minimum bid.
Observers expect a surcharge of between 25 and 30 million US dollars.
This price is based on the last known sale of a Ferrari 410 Sport Spider.
In 2014, a bidder was awarded the car with the weaker V12 engine for USD 23 million at the time.
