At its first Rétromobile sale in Paris on February 9, Bonhams sold this 1962 Ferrari 250 GTE 2+2 for $136,735. This price is close to the high range of most price guides.
While many Ferrari enthusiasts thought real Ferraris should only have two seats, the 250 GTE was a great success. Two years earlier, in 1958, Ford changed the beloved two-seat Thunderbird into the four-seat, ungainly “square bird” and many of us young enthusiasts felt betrayed. But Ford sold almost twice as many square birds as they had 1957 T-Birds in a year when the U.S. was recovering from a major recession, and car sales were down as much as 60% for some makes.
Similarly, in 1961, Ferrari’s 250 2+2s accounted for 70% of production, and the total of 955 cars in three years was by far the most of a single model produced by Ferrari up to that date. Plus, at the end of the run in 1963, the company put the 4-liter 330 engine in the last 50 body shells and called it the 330 America, so Pininfarina produced a total of over 1,000 of this 2+2 design.
Today, with 6,465 Ferraris delivered in 2006, a mere 1,000 seems trivial, but in the early ’60s, when production was at best a few hundred a year, the 2+2 changed Ferrari. And most enthusiasts have begrudgingly accepted the idea of a four-place Ferrari, especially since the GTE retained the essence of a sports car. The sentiments of many owners are captured by the comment of Julio Batista of Madrid, owner of a 212, a 246 Dino, and a 330 GTC, who said: “I am having loads of fun with my 250 GTE; it’s just a GTE, but that engine… Practicing my heel-and-toeing for when the 212 arrives, I love it.” So begrudging admiration is typical.
500 GTEs survived, but at what price?
The founder of the 250 GTE registries, the late Len Miller, determined after 25 years of research that about 500 had survived. By the early 1970s many were in deplorable condition and very cheap. Hence, the car became the entry-level Ferrari.
I got involved with Ferraris in the early ’70s, when a car-collecting friend in Baltimore gave me a couple copies of Kirk White’s ground-breaking newsletters. He had a 250 2+2 available for $1,800, well within my budget. My first ride in a Ferrari was in one advertised in the Baltimore Sun for $2,300. The cautious owner wouldn’t let me drive, but I could ride in the back seat. My foot almost went through the rusty floor, which was held together by the carpet.
That car typifies what the current buyer may find today when he goes searching for an affordable Ferrari. Lurking underneath the new “restoration” can be a car that has had a very rough life. Many of these cars have had dozens of owners, so bills and records of what was done have long been lost, and the potential buyer is presented with a problem: What you see may not be what you get.
At least ALL the pieces were there
So what about this 1962 Ferrari 250 GTE 2+2? Good deal or risky business? The catalog is vague about the condition; it mentions some restoration receipts, but no details as to recent work. The only claim is “recommissioned in 2007,” presumably after the third owner bought it in April 2007, but what does recommissioning mean? SCM’s Donald Osborne rated the car a #4+ and opined that the recommissioning could have been an oil change, new battery, and the shiny blue paint. But it is a three-owner car and looked pretty nice. Jerome Hardy, SCM’s Paris reporter, owns a 250 2+2 and evaluated it thus:
“A fresh respray of good quality in the original color over an otherwise tired car. Rubber was partly replaced and the obvious chrome-the bumpers-had been redone. The rest was original and in driver condition. The Borrani wheels were in decent shape. The really bad point was the interior; the leather was dead, the carpeting deteriorated. One good point was that ALL the pieces were there-the bumperettes, the right badges, the jack hole covers, the cigar lighter, etc. Undercarriage was just clean. It was a French car all its life, with three owners, although it was in Belgium at the time of the auction. After the auction I spoke with some Bonhams people. They told me they did not have any invoices to support the statement that the body AND the engine had been redone last year. What was meant by ‘recommissioned in 2007’ is anyone’s guess. According to them, it runs, although it was pushed onto the stage.”
So what can we say about a #4+ car that had to be pushed across the block and brought a bid among the highest in recent memory? Certainly Bonhams did a superb job for the seller. But does this portend a bubble, are pre-’70 Ferrari prices heading higher in 2008? Should editor Martin have hung on to his 330 America? (Well, we actually know the answer to that one-of course he should have.)
In my opinion, 250 GTE prices are rising along with the general vintage V12 tide, and given the cost to restore one, the values make sense. But at least in the U.S., it still takes a brilliant example to bring this kind of money. So I would conclude that the market future for 250 GTEs is strong, but also that this 1962 GTE 2+2 was ahead of the curve.
