Story highlights
The Retromobile Classic Car show in Paris will run February 3 to 7
A 1957 Ferrari 335 S Spider Scaglietti will be on auction
The Ferrari is expected to sell for estimated $34 million
A 1950s racing Ferrari, expected to sell for $34 million (€32 million), is poised to smash the record for the most expensive car ever sold at auction in Paris on Friday.
The 1957 Ferrari 335 S Spider Scaglietti was driven to victory by British Formula 1 champion Stirling Moss, at the Cuba Grand Prix in 1958. In 1957, the car set the first 200 km/h-plus lap record at 24 Hours of Le Mans, known as the grand prix of endurance and efficiency.
“[It is] both a work of art and the queen of speed,” says Matthieu Lamoure, managing director of auction house Artcurial, which is offering the Ferrari. “[It] represents the elixir of the exceptional: beauty, rarity, racing success, history, authenticity and provenance.”
The current record for most expensive car sold at auction is held by the 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO Berlinetta, which sold for $38 million in 2014, in California.
Scroll through the gallery above for Retromobile 2016 auction highlights from Artcurial, Bonhams and RM Sotheby’s.