They may not have done it on time to beat inflation, but in the long run it certainly ended up yielding them much more than a fixed term: two enthusiasts jumped at the opportunity to buy a 1962 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider for just $
2,400
, they put it up and it has just been sold for nothing less than 18,045,000 dollars.
The car
was one of the stars of the last great event of Gooding & Company
, the auction house that organizes a unique event every year on Amelia Island, on the east coast of the United States, where collectors come in search of the most coveted specimens. of all.
And this Ferrari meets all the conditions to enter that batch.
Barely 37 units were manufactured by the Maranello house of this copy
, which in this particular case sports a body painted in an almost unprecedented metallic blue.
To the surprise of many, it was not the whim of any former owner, but that was how it left the factory.
The 1962 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider sold for $18 million.
Photo: Gooding & Company.
It is that it was a unit
specially prepared to be exhibited at the 1962 New York International Auto Show
: the color was the highlight, but beyond having the same 240 hp 3.0 V12 engine as the rest of the 250 GT SWB California Spider, also endowed it with other unique qualities, such as the use of 42 DCL6 carburettors or Borrani RW3690 rims, wider than usual.
The history of the business of the century with a Ferrari
But even if it was a successful deal,
Charles Betz and Fred Peters
did not lack patience: these two Americans, Ferrari fans, bought this relic in poor condition, kept it for three decades in that state until they decided to start the restoration process. .
And from then another 20 years passed until it was auctioned at an eight-figure dollar price.
It was
in 1972 that Betz and Peters managed to get auto parts salesman Rudi Klein to back down and part with the car
, which he had bought a couple of years earlier as a spare parts discard: from a high-speed mishandle that It ended in a hit against the curb, the left front wheel and suspension, the brake rotor, the pedal box and the exhaust were completely useless.
The incredible Ferrari that was the protagonist of a great business
It's a 1962 250 GT SWB California Spider. It just sold for $18 million.
“We went to his depot to look for some Porsche parts and ended up having a typical conversation with him about Ferrari.
But this time the subject of this car was not brought up, he knew we wanted it and on other occasions we had told him how much we were willing to pay for it," Betz recalled of the day they ended up buying the car, despite the fact that Klein was a Tough nut to crack: "He didn't want to sell it, and he was quite negative about the brand," he explained.
And he expanded: “When we were getting ready to leave, I got into my car –a Ferrari 250 GT/E– and started it.
It started right away and it ran perfect, there was no smoke coming out of the exhaust and it sounded great.
That's when Rudy stopped talking and listened intently, and after a short pause, he said, 'Okay, I'll sell you the damn car!'”
The 1962 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider sold for $18 million.
Photo: Gooding & Company.
However, the biggest surprise was not having convinced him once and for all, but the price they ended up paying to take it away.
"When we went to pick up the car, he presented us with the invoice, and the total amount, including sales tax and license fees, was less than what we had offered."
The sinister road had not damaged the chassis, the transmission or the bodywork
, so the two friends had an important base from which to start restoring it once they had it in their possession.
But
it wasn't until the beginning of the 21st century that they decided to go a step further
and decided that it was not enough for it to be functional: they wanted to restore the car to all its splendor, adjust it to the standards of the most demanding competitions.
The 1962 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider sold for $18 million.
Photo: Gooding & Company.
This process lasted until 2004
and included, for example, restoring the paint to leave it as it was in those golden days, a meticulous job for which they had to rely on small sections of the bodywork that remained intact, hidden from the ravages of water and wind. sun.
And so it was time to get out in the ring: he made his debut at the 40th Annual Ferrari Club of America National Competition, in Carmel-By-The-Sea, California, and never stopped again, going through the best competitions and reaping awards for every step he took.
It was a dream come true for Betz and Peters,
two long-term university professors who forged a relationship precisely thanks to their passion and experience with cars
: both admired each other's meticulous strategies to improve their respective collections every day despite not showing off their wallets. from other magnates with whom they rubbed shoulders in the field of classics.
The 1962 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider sold for $18 million.
Photo: Gooding & Company.
Over time, they joined forces and found an opportunity in
Ferraris
: in the 1960s and 1970s, few American mechanics were capable of repairing them, and therefore buying one in that country was relatively cheap.
So it was that they tried various approaches to the subject: first, in 1968, a second-hand dealership of the brand, but the project did not prosper.
“Everybody wanted a new Ferrari, not a used one, so nobody was interested in us.
Not even to the bank or the insurance company”, Betz justified.
It was by restoring vehicles and selling them for little difference that they ended up proposing
a 30-year plan
, with the goal of reaching that term with $300,000 each thanks to that "hobby that got out of hand," as Peters described his passion. for the cars.
The 1962 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider sold for $18 million.
Photo: Gooding & Company.
In this way, armed with patience,
life went by while they bought and sold cars and spare parts
, until in 2002 a 1957 Testarossa that they had been repairing for years marked a before and after: "My half of the profit from that operation it meant more income than in my entire career as a teacher”, Betz graphed.
According to the specialized portal Carscoops, the sports car was still in the hands of Bertz and Peters.
The wait paid off, then.
And
the US$ 18 million paid for this Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider
are another example of this.
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