Ferrari Testa Rossa Sells for Record $16.4 Million at Pebble Beach

Courtesy of Gooding & CompanyThe Testa Rossa on Saturday, after breaking the record for a car sold at public auction.

MONTEREY, Calif. — An auction record fell here on Saturday, as had been widely expected, with the sale of a 1957 Ferrari Testa Rossa racecar by Gooding & Company at auction. The winning bid was $14.9 million, or about $16.4 million including the buyer’s premium.

This car was the prototype for the Testa Rossa series, of which fewer than 40 were ultimately built. The previous record holder was also a Testa Rossa, albeit one with a slightly less illustrious history. That car sold for $12.4 million at an RM auction in Italy in 2009.

Other notable sales during the week of the Pebble Beach concours included the following (prices include the buyer’s premium):

• 1937 Mercedes-Benz 540 K Spezial Roadster (RM). This supercharged prewar Mercedes, both brutish and graceful, is generally regarded by collectors as the most desirable Mercedes of the classic era. No presale estimate was given for the open-top 540 K, but the $9.7 million realized was on the lower end of expectations, based on a conversation with Rob Myers, the chairman and founder of RM Auctions.

• 1979 BMW M1 painted by Frank Stella (Bonhams). While collectors often maintain that classic automobiles are legitimate works of art, in truth there has rarely been a happy marriage between automobiles and actual art. In the 1970s, Andy Warhol, Alexander Calder and Frank Stella adorned various models of BMWs ,and at $854,000, this car by Mr. Stella, while not recognized as an official member of BMW’s Art Car series, realized a premium of perhaps $700,000 over an unadorned car. The result, however, is not likely to set the contemporary art world on fire.

• 1959 Fiat Tipo 682/RN-2 Transporter (Gooding). This behemoth, recently featured in the Automobiles section, was used by Ferrari from 1960 to 1970 to transport its competition cars. The winning bid, $990,000, may seem like a great deal of money for a barely usable heavy truck with just 170 horsepower, but the charm and the history that it represented clearly resonated with the Ferraristi present at the sale.

• 1931 Duesenberg Model J Coupe (Gooding). The long-wheelbase coupe garnered the second-highest price of any car here and the highest ever paid for an American-make car at auction. The vehicle, known as the Whittell Coupe after George Whittell Jr., the San Francisco-based scion who commissioned it, was purchased for $10.3 million on the second night of the Gooding showcase. A presale estimate was not announced.