In late 2023, RM Sotheby’s presented a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the right deep-pocketed buyer to purchase a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO. The specific vehicle, chassis No. 3765, fetched a staggering $51.7 million at auction and generated an avalanche of international headlines, many of which featured the words “most expensive Ferrari ever.” Unusually, the clickbait actually undersold the news.
Yes, this was the most expensive Ferrari ever sold at public auction—in fact, it took the record from another Ferrari 250 GTO that RM Sotheby’s auctioned for $48.4 million in 2018. But even more significantly, the 2023 sale made chassis No. 3765 the most valuable production car sold at auction, full stop. The only other automobile on earth that’s achieved a more numerable confirmed hammer price is the $142 million 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR “Uhlenhaut Coupé”—a nonhomologated, one-of-two prototype.
