1957 Ferrari Testa Rossa sets a new record as the most expensive car sold at auction, after fetching $16.4 million at the annual Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance at Monterey Car Week in California. This red Ferrari has suffered damage in the Le Mans 24-hour race and been wrecked in a fire, but has since been professionally restored to its former glory.
The car is the first of Testa Rossa built and was used as a prototype for the many others that came during the 1950s and 1960s. The car has 300-horsepower, a 3.0-liter V-12 engine, a four-speed manual transmission and was used in races in both the U.S. and Europe.
The ultra-rich remain ultra-rich, Swiss-based Ferrari historian Marcel Massini told. The very, very best sells easily and incredibly high. The identity of the seller and the buyer is still unknown.
The previous record for a car sold at auction was the $12 million sale of another 1957 Testa Rossa in Maranello, Italy in 2009.
