Perfect car collection sells for £33m

The record-makers were a rare Iso Grifo A3/C, which used to belong to French pop idol Johnny Halliday, sold for 1.8m euros, and a Ferrari Testarossa which made 286,000 euros. There were some conspicuous good buys in the no-reserve-price sale, held by RM Sotheby’s on behalf of French historic racer turned collector, Jean Guikas.

Guikas spent 27 years hand-picking a wide assortment of road and racing beauties from across the decades, all kept in peak condition and driven often. RM Sotheby’s called the cars “one of the most significant and beautifully curated single-owner collections in Europe”.

Star of the show, held at the Circuit Paul Ricard, at Le Castellet, on 19^th November, was as expected a 1955 Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta Competizione. Its significance lies in the fact that its one-off bodywork effectively makes it the prototype of the 250 GT LWB Tour de France. A star car of the 1955 Turin Motor Show, it appeared in public at the sale for the first time in 30 years. It had been expected to make between 7-9 million euros but on the day sold for just over 6m euros.

Close behind was another Ferrari, a 1958 250 GT Cabriolet Series I by Pinin Farina, the 23^rd of 40 examples produced, which made €4.4m. Rounding out a top three for Maranello was a Ferrari of half a century later, a 2005 575 GTC, one of 12 made and considered to be the last V12 race car built by the Ferrari factory. It went to its new home in return for 2.6m euros.

Our pick of the bunch? That would be the 1975 Lamborghini Countach LP400 Periscopio, one of only 157 made and with Bertone’s Countach design in its most pure form, a true supercar icon. Was it a bargain at 905,000 euros, or around £760,000?

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.