This 1960 Ferrari 250 GT is valued at $1.3 million (22 photos)
An unusual car will be up for auction at the Gooding auction: a 1960 Ferrari 250 GT convertible. Despite its far from ideal condition, it is expected to fetch between 1 and 1.3 million dollars. This is due both to the rarity of the model and to the history of a particular specimen, which appeared in public for the first time in several decades. 
Ferrari and Pinin Farina produced just two hundred 250 GT Series II convertibles in the 1960s, making the car a collector's item in its own right. According to the auctioneers, this specimen also has a rich biography.
The first owner of the convertible was the Italian prince, playboy and philanthropist Alessandro Dado Ruspoli, a famous representative of the Roman bohemia of those times. His circle of acquaintances included, for example, Salvador Dali, Brigitte Bardot, Pablo Picasso and Audrey Hepburn. The prince got bored with the expensive toy after about a year, after which the Ferrari 250 GT in 1963 became the property of the famous actor Robert Wagner through third parties.
He also owned the car for only a short time, only about two years, but during this time the convertible managed to become a noticeable part of the cult film “The Pink Panther,” released in 1964. Until the end of the 1970s, the 250 GT repeatedly changed owners and continents, until in 1979 it landed in the Californian garage of a certain Donald Nichols. He planned to restore the sports car over time and even began preparing the car for repairs, but the matter did not go further than cleaning the body from paintwork and disassembling the interior. The car, half disassembled, was discovered in 2022 by its current owner.
Auctioneers call the 250 GT sports car one of the most exciting automotive discoveries of recent times, not only because it appeared in public for the first time in many years. The car also features completely original equipment. It is equipped with a factory 3-liter V12 carburetor coupled with a 4-speed manual transmission. Thus, a million dollars for a car that will require a lengthy and expensive restoration does not seem overpriced. 
