Sherman M. Wolf was a pioneer in pocket pagers, who assembled an extraordinary collection of vintage cars during his lifetime. A born tinkerer, he also collected antique clocks and radios, but he was a particular devotee of rare Ferraris, which—unlike most collectors—he maintained himself. Next month at Pebble Beach, Gooding & Co. will offer four of his cars, led by a 1960 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spider Competizione, which alone may fetch as much as $9m.Wolf purchased the alloy-bodied California Spider, his first Ferrari and one of only nine examples of this model ever built, in the late ‘70’s. Since that time, it’s had a full restoration by Ferrari specialist David Carte. Wolf’s 1953 Ferrari 340 MM Competition Spider by Vignale is just as rare. It’s the last of only ten 340’s and the last of five 340 MM Ferraris bodied by Vignale (est. $4.5m-$6.5m). The third car in the group, a 1957 Ferrari 500 TRC by Scaglietti, is also extraordinarily rare as well as beautiful. Wolf, who died earlier this year, owned the racing car for the past 20 years, campaigning it in the Colorado Grand and Monterey Historics races (est. $3.75m-$4.5m). Completing the group is a 1985 Ferrari 288 GTO, one of only 272 examples ever produced by the factory. With just 6,000 miles, it carries an estimate of $750,000-$900,000 at the August 18-19 sale.
Ultra-Rare Ferraris From Wolf Collection At Pebble Beach
July 19, 2012
Prices Soar At Scottsdale Classic Car Auctions
January 21, 2013Little doubt remained about the extraordinary vitality of the vintage car market after the results at the multiple auctions that took place this past weekend in and around Scottsdale, Arizona. Gooding & Co. led the final tallies with a total of $52.5m, paced by the sale of a 1958 Ferrari 250GT LWB California Spider for $8.25m. With six of the weekend top 10 sales, Gooding’s result was up 31% over last year’s sale, a pattern of growth that almost all the Scottsdale events mirrored.
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Arizona Sales Launch Vintage Car Auction Season
January 7, 2013In January, the place to be for vintage car collectors is Arizona, where a series of auctions happens every year in and around Phoenix. Both Gooding and RM will be hosting sales the weekend of January 18-19, when a 1957 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spyder, offered at Gooding and estimated at $5.5m-$7.5m, is likely to set the weekend’s pace. That is, unless it’s eclipsed by another ultra-rare Ferrari that RM is selling. It’s a 1960 250 GT SWB Berlinetta ‘Competizione,’ which has been exhibited at Pebble Beach, the Quail, and Italy’s Villa d’Este. RM is circumspect about its anticipated value, a tipoff about the sky-high price they’re expecting.
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Gooding $113.7m Pebble Beach Total A Record
August 21, 2012It was a stellar weekend for Gooding & Co. at Pebble Beach. With a $113.7m total for its two-day auction, the official auctioneer of the Concours d’Elegance achieved the highest automotive auction result ever. Fully 24 of the 123 lots offered sold for over $1m; in fact, the average price paid for a car was a remarkable $1,033,966. The $11,770,000 achieved by a 1926 Mercedes 540 K may have been shy of the $16m some had predicted, but it was still a double-world record for a Mercedes and a pre-war car at auction.
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Rising Value of Unrestored Cars
By Malcolm Welford, Vintage Car Specialist
