This Car Sold for Nearly $2M, but It Needs Some Work

It's the burnt-out shell of a 1954 Ferrari
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 21, 2023 8:33 AM CDT
Somebody Paid Nearly $2M for This Burnt Car Shell
This could have been yours for a mere $2 million.   (RM Sotheby's)

That somebody snapped up an extremely rare Ferrari for nearly $2 million at an auction is maybe not too surprising. That the Ferrari in question is more of a burnt-out shell of a car than an actual car is the more unusual part. Jalopnik reports that an unnamed buyer shelled out $1.875 million for a 1950s Ferrari 500 Mondial at RM Sotheby's in Monterey, California. Or at least it was a Ferrari 500 Mondial, until it crashed and caught fire sometime in the 1960s.

The vehicle will need "a comprehensive restoration to return the car to the condition of its glory days," says the auction house in a bit of an understatement, but the process promises to be "very rewarding." The BBC reports that the car was one of only 13 made, with its body designed by the renowned Pinin Farina. In 1954, race car driver Franco Cortese finished 14th with it in the Mille Miglia race in Italy. The shell of the car sat for decades until being rediscovered in 2004 when a hurricane in Florida blew the roof off the building where it was being stored. (More Ferrari stories.)

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