This Is a $1 Million Ferrari

If you want to spend a million dollars or more on a vintage Ferrari, Monterey Car Week is the place to go. Cars that reach those astronomical valuations are usually either kept in incredible original condition for their entire lives or sold after an extensive and expensive restoration. Not always, though. Sometimes, the car is so valuable on concept that it can sell for over $1 million as a burnt heap.

This Ferrari 500 Mondial was run as one of Ferrari's rare customer four-cylinder race cars in Italy throughout the 1950s before making its way to the United States in 1958. It then ran for seven more years, briefly even competing with a V-8 swap, before crashing and catching fire at some point between 1963 and 1965. The well-preserved wreckage then sat for half a century before finally showing up on the auction block yesterday, where it was sold alongside the odd 3.0-liter four-cylinder engine that it would have raced with before the V-8 so rudely took its place.

The final sale price came in at $1.875 million, well clear of the initial $1.2 to $1.6 million estimate. This 500 is one of eight Ferraris that have already sold for at least $1 million during the first days of the RM Sotheby's Monterey auction. Another 12 Ferraris estimated at $1 million or more remain in the auction over the next two days, including a 550 Maranello GT1 racer and a 250 LM that could sell in the $20 million range.

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