Would you spend US$3 million on a car you’ve never seen? Ferrari leaves Porsche and Aston Martin in the dust, setting a record for most expensive car sold online

In an auction that ended August 7, Gooding & Co. sold a 1966 Ferrari 275 GTB the colour of a white sand beach for US$3.08 million. Even more unbelievable was that it was done online. The uniquely engineered, 1-of-40 coupes made commanded the most expensive sum ever paid for a car sold on the internet. 

Such a high sale for a car not actually seen in person is a canny indicator of the relative health of the collector car market in the midst of Covid-19, but it’s not a surprise. 

“I think this car is virus-proof in the sense that it is a really, really exceptional 275. It’s basically an all-original car with an original interior, a lot of original paint and long-term ownership,” David Gooding, auction house president and chief executive officer, said in an interview before the sale. (In true auction house discretion, Gooding & Co. declined to identify the person who bought the vehicle.) “It’s special – pandemic or not.”

The results sent a strong “yes, you can” message to any industry collectors and enthusiasts wondering if their cancelled summer sales would hold up in an online format – especially for the most elite and perfect collectible cars, such as Aston Martins, Jaguars and racing Ferraris. 

“There is serious, armour-plated Kevlar protecting the 1 per cent who give a toss about this car passion,” says Steve Serio, a car broker to the rich and famous.

“Vehicles above that US$100,000 price point – think, cars that sell at Pebble Beach – or the parts of the economy not as closely tied to the oil industry, [will] see little change,” echoed Hagerty’s John Wiley in a recent report on the effects of the novel coronavirus on the collecting world.

All told, more than US$70 million worth of classic and collectible cars have been sold online by the world’s top auction houses since the start of the pandemic.