Purchased for thousands of dollars and sold for more than 21 million. This deal is worth it to be recorded in the annals of the history of the car, because the object of trade is neither more nor less, but Ferrari. More precisely, the 1955 355 S model, a museum exhibit, which at the end of last year after long private negotiations was acquired by an Austrian collector. The car stood for many years in a warehouse, forgotten by everyone, but was "dug up" by a wretched businessman who took it to himself and paid only for storage costs.
Despite the fact that the transaction amount is not an absolute record in the history of cars - the Mercedes Gran Prix of the same period was sold a little earlier for 29.7 million dollars - the profit from it came out dizzying. And the whole history of this car is bizarre and non-trivial. For half a century she traveled the world, changing owners: she visited the United States, both on the east and west coasts, in the UK and Japan.
It all started in May 1957, when Enzo Ferrari, who was in search of funds to finance the competitions of his racing team and at the same time did not have much choice among buyers, decided to sell the 335 S in the USA.
The car had a 12-cylinder 4.1-liter engine, which was not allowed at international competitions and was too complicated for the Italian market, so the only way out was to transport the car overseas. Thus, according to the New York Times, with the help of Ferrari's distributor in the United States, Luigi Kinetti, the car was in the hands of a wealthy Texan and a passionate motor racing enthusiast Alain Connell.
However, the engine still turned out to be problematic, and in 1959 the car was again sent to Italy for repair: it was a pleasure at that time, big money, 70 thousand dollars.
When the 335 S again arrived in New York, Connell no longer needed it, and for many years the car stood in a warehouse on the outskirts of the city, all forgotten. Until the moment when Gordon Tatum, a used car dealer from Maryland, accidentally found him and brought him home, paying the owners of the warehouse only a couple of thousand dollars for car storage.
From Tatum, the car passed first to a wealthy English businessman, and then to a certain Japanese. In the early 90s, thanks to racing car fan Bruce McCaw, the 335 S returned to the United States, to Sydney. From where she again moved to Florida, where she became an exhibit of the annual Ferrari exhibition "Cavallino Classic show" in Palm Beach. It was there that her original engine was repaired. And it was there that I saw her and immediately fell in love with the Austrian collector Andreas Mohringerwho promised to pick her up to Europe for any money. 21.5 million dollars in total.
