1962 Ferrari 250 GTO sells for record-breaking $48.4M

The GTO last sold for $7 million in 2000.

Auction house RM Sotheby's sold a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO for a record-breaking $48.4 million at an auction held during the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. The figure represents an all-time record for a car sold at an auction.

The record-setting GTO wears chassis number 3413 GT. It started life as a Ferrari test car and participated in the 1962 Targa Florio with ex-Formula One driver Phil Hill behind the wheel. Private racer Edoardo Lualdi-Gabardi bought the car and won the 1962 Italian National GT Championship in it. It boasted an impressive pedigree before it celebrated its first birthday.

Chassis number 3413 also won the 1963 and 1964 editions of the Targa Florio. All told, it participated in 20 races during its career. And, surprisingly, it finished all of them. It retains its original V12 engine, five-speed manual transmission, and rear axle.

Greg Whitten, the former chief software architect at Micorsoft, purchased chassis number 3413 for $7 million in 2000. That represents about $10 million in 2018. He maintained it religiously and often entered it in historic races across the world.

The new owner's identity hasn't been made public.

While $48.4 million is a record for car auctions, chassis number 3413 GT isn't the most expensive car ever. That honor goes to another 250 GTO, chassis number 4153 GT, which traded hands for $70 million in June 2018.