24h Le Mans
32,075,200 euros: such is the modest sum, fees included, of which will be relieved the new owner of the Ferrari 335S entered by the official outfit at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1957 and which was sold at auction by Artcurial on Friday at Retromobile.
The record of the 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO - sold for 38 million dollars over the summer of 2014 - has not been beaten of course, but the 1957 335S is now the second most valuable car in the world.
The chassis donning the number 7, entered by Scuderia Ferrari for Mike Hawthorn and Luigi Musso, did not cross the finish line at the 25th edition at Le Mans following mechanical failure, but it did finish sixth at the 12 Hours of Sebring at its first race with Peter Collins and Maurice Trintignant and second at the Mille Miglia the same year thanks to Wolfgang von Trips.
Sold to Luigi Chinetti, owner of the famous NART (North American Racing Team) team in 1958, the Ferrari 335S participated in a few races before passing to an architect in Pennsylvania, then to Pierre Bardinon, who brought it home to France to add to a 50-model collection that included four of the nine cars that have won at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Cécile Bonardel / ACO - Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO
PHOTO: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, JUNE 22 1957, START. The No. 7 Ferrari 335S at the start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1957.
