Rare 1962 Ferrari sold for a staggering $48.4 million

Say hello to the most expensive car ever to be sold at auction. This 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO - just one of 36 in existence - sold for a record-breaking $48,405,000 (£37.5m) at RM Sotheby’s Monterey sale in California at the weekend. Dubbed the Holy Grail of collectible cars, it eclipsed the previous record - also held by a Ferrari 250 GTO made in the same year - of $38.1 million (£29.5m) to take the title of the most valuable motor to go under the hammer.

The car was part of the same auction that included a 1963 Aston Martin DP215 Grand Touring Competition Prototype that went for $21.5 million (£16.7m) - the third most expensive British car of all time - and raised a total of $157.6 million (£122.1m) in total with 124 vehicles changing hands. The sale is one of the biggest of the year, taking place during the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance - a five-day festival of auctions, exclusive vehicle unveilings (like the Lamborghini Aventador SVJ) and invite-only parties for car collectors with the deepest pockets on the planet. Chassis number 3413 GT is one of the earliest made. It was the third 250 GTO to ever leave the Maranello production line, though it’s widely believed that all 36 examples remain in existence today.

Each road-legal racer left the Italian factory with a 3.0-litre V12 engine under the bonnet that produces a quoted 300bhp. That was good enough for a zero to 60mph sprint in 6.1 seconds and a top speed of 174mph - enough for the 250 GTO to dominate the motorsport scene during its heyday. If rumours are to be believed, a later 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO sold for $70million earlier this year. Leading Ferrari historian Marcel Massini, who described the car as ‘one of the top three or four GTOs in the world’, confirmed it had been bought by an American businessman in June. And he predicted the famed GTO could get pricier, with values expected to rise beyond $100million in the next five years.