Ferrari 412P could make over £30million with Bonhams
A 1967 Ferrari 412P – said to be the most important sport-racing Ferrari to come to market in half a decade – will cross the blocks at Bonham’s 18 August Quail auction and it's expected to make a sturdy eight-figure sum when it does.
Delivered new to Colonel Ronnie Hoare's British Ferrari agency, Maranello Concessionaires Ltd, the car went on to compete in that year's FIA World Championship of Makes, driven by Richard Attwood, Piers Courage, Lucien Bianchi, Jo Siffert and privateer David Piper.
The car made its racing debut at the World Championship Round 4, the Belgian Spa 1,000 Kilometers, in the hands of Attwood and Bianchi, taking third place and helping to secure Ferrari's victory in the 1967 championship.
The car competed at Le Mans and Brands Hatch in the same year before David Piper bought the car. He took it to the Paris 1,000 Kilometers, Kyalami 9-Hours, and the Cape Town 3-Hours.
The car stayed in Piper's hands for 1968-1969, winning at the 1968 Nuremberg 200 Kilometers at the Norisring, the Solituderennen at Hockenheim, and the Swedish Grand Prix.
The car had a lucky escape during the 1969 East London 500 Kilometers in South Africa, where a minor fuel leak caused a fire that damaged the car's lightweight, moulded GRP bodywork. Earlier, Piper removed and safely stored the original hand-formed aluminium body.
The car passed into US hands in 1969, when Chris Cord, grandson of the creator of Cord luxury cars, bought it. Distinguished collectors, including Sir (later Lord) Anthony Bamford, Sir Paul Vestey, John McCaw and Bruce McCaw, have owned the car since.
The current owner has had the car since 2005 and oversaw a painstaking nine-year restoration that included refitting the aluminium body and returning the Ferrari to its original Italian racing red with a Cambridge blue nose.
Following its restoration, the car was shown at the Quail Gathering in 2015 and 2019's Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, where it received the ArtCenter College of Design Award.
Believed to be the only surviving prototype Ferrari of its era with an original chassis, engine, gearbox and bodywork, you can expect chassis 0854 to run well north of £30million when it goes under the hammer later this summer.
Bonhams
The Quail
Ferrari
412P
