Just in time for Valentine’s Day, one of the world’s most beautiful automobiles is set to stun onlookers and bidders at RM Sotheby’s upcoming Amelia Island Sale. We didn’t believe in love at first sight, until we saw this Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spider.
What makes a car art? Does it need to have the most extravagant of design elements? Or a symphony under the bonnet? Possibly. For some though, true art is found rooted deep in the car’s soul, born from an era where claiming victory was a sign of complete dominance and proficiency. For Enzo Ferrari, winning was the only way he wanted to live his life.
The Ferrari 250 GT threads the tightest of needles and became the rarest of beasts, a car that was not only immensely successful on the racetrack, but also a car that dropped multiple jaws as it drove by on the open road. While the success in racing was one thing, making a car as enjoyable out on the open road was equally as important, and thankfully, Enzo knew just how to make his 250 the ultimate sunshine cruiser.
The 250 GT California Spider shared the Tour de France berlinetta’s chassis, and like that model, its bespoke coachwork was designed and built by the legendary Sergio Scaglietti. It was a car unlike anything that had come before it, with Scaglietti’s coachwork bringing entirely new proportions to the already achingly beautiful 250 GT, with elegant fenders complemented by unmistakable louvered vents over the front wheels. This was a Ferrari built for every sense to enjoy; utterly glorious to hear, viscerally thrilling in performance, and beautiful to admire. Some would call it, art on wheels.
A mere fifty examples of the California Spider were built on the long-wheelbase chassis, 2,600-millimeters in length to be exact. This longer body allows the car’s body to flow fluently, with plenty more space inside the cabin, too. If you were a taller lady or gentleman during this era, owning a sports car was more of a hindrance over enjoyment, but the California Spider offered more than enough room for a passenger and the monogrammed luggage.
Now, this example is presented with magnificent fit and finish, retaining its numbers-matching engine, gearbox, and rear axle per Ferrari Classiche certification, and documented with all-but-unobtainable original factory record. It is finished in an incredibly unique shade, known as Amaranto, which contrasts beautifully against the saddle leather interior. As the recipient of so many awards, this glowing Ferrari would make for perhaps the ultimate acquisition for a Ferrari collector. Despite winning multiple events all over the globe, it of course still offers further opportunities for concours presentation or to simply enjoy to its fullest, be it cruising the vistas above Monaco, or the twisting passes and coastal highways of California, for which the celebrated model was so legendarily named!
