We’re still some two months away from the collector car auctions that will take place in mid-August on California’s Monterey Peninsula, but the auction houses already are battling for bidders’ attention. Consider:
- Back in May, RM Sotheby’s announced the consignment of a group of Ford and Shelby race cars from the Jim Click Collection;
- A week later, Gooding & Company did a news release showcasing elegant pre-war American cars for its Pebble Beach sale;
- Earlier this week, RM Sotheby’s shared word that the cars from the Riverside International museum had been consigned to its sale in Monterey (and to Auctions America’s sale in Santa Barbara);
- A day later, Gooding & Company released details of aerodynamically shaped European coachbuilt cars with stunning shapes;
- And now RM Sotheby’s is back with news that its Monterey docket will include the 1955 Ferrari 750 Monza Spider driven in competition by Phil Hill, Carroll Shelby and Jim Hall; oh, and also a 1966 Ford GT40 Mk 1.
The 750 Monza is chassis No. 0510 M and is being offered for sale after 60 years in the care of its current owner, famed racer Jim Hall. The road-going GT40 has been restored to its original specifications and comes to market for the first time in 25 years.
According to the news release from RM Sotheby’s, the 750 Monza Spider is “an important piece of Ferrari competition history, and was one of the most rewarding sports racers of its era.”
The car, white with large blue triangles on its hood and rear deck, originally was sold to Allen Guiberson, a Texan who owned and entered early Ferraris in many races. No. 0510 M made its competitive debut in the 1955 12-hour race at Sebring, where it finished second overall with Hill and Shelby driving. A few weeks later, it won the Del Monte Trophy race that was part of the Pebble Beach road races.
Hall and his brother, Richard, bought the car at the end of the season and apparently the car’s colorful look was changed. The Halls raced the car in 1956, with Shelby in the cockpit and achieving overall victory in the Pebble Beach race that year.
After the season, Jim Hall bought out his brother’s interest and continued racing the car in Texas, then put it into storage for 40 years. Since its restoration, it has gone to the Monterey Historics for the 1997 tribute to Shelby and last year was part of a special display at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance honoring Hill and Stirling Moss.
The car goes to auction with its original drivetrain in tact. RM Sotheby’s has set a pre-auction estimated value of $4 million to $5.5 million.
“A fantastic piece of motorsport history, chassis 0510 M is likely the most original 750 Monza in existence; its provenance and importance are second to none,” Jack Boxstrom, an RM Sotheby’s car specialist said in a news release.
“While many four-cylinder Ferrari sports racers fell to the crucible of motorsport or general neglect following their racing careers, this particular example has been incredibly preserved. It’s highly successful competition history—which includes three legends of American racing—coupled with its superb condition, and the fact it is offered directly by its owner of 60 years, no less, one of the drivers who campaigned it in period, place it in a class of its own.”
Meanwhile, the 1966 Ford GT40 Mk I (chassis No. P/1057) is one of 50 built for homologation purposes and one of 31 built for the road rather than the race track.
“Elevating its rarity, the featured GT40 was one of 20 cars allocated to Ford’s Promotion and Disposal Program when new, and one of seven road cars consigned to Shelby American for retail,” RM Sotheby’s said in its announcement.
The GT40 originally was sold to Nick Nero of Kansas City, Missouri. According to RM Sotheby’s, the car was Nero’s daily driver for nearly a decade before going to other owners and then, in the early 1970s, into “hibernation.” It was acquired by GT40 restorer Robert Ash in 1984. After restoration, it was sold to its current owner in 1991 and, RM Sotheby’s noted, “has since been carefully maintained as part of one of the most astute collections in the U.S…. (while being used) as it was intended—on the open road.”
RM Sotheby’s has set a pre-auction value of the car, which comes with its original engine, of $3.25 million to $3.75 million.
“The GT40’s caretaker of the last quarter century attests to the fact that while rated at 400+ hp, the car’s legendary Ford V8 engine actually develops closer to 425-450 hp,” said Shelby Myers, an RM Sotheby’s car specialist. “It comes on strong up until 3,000 rpm, after which its race-bred pedigree really shows.”
