Unique 1955 Ferrari 410 Sport Spider sports car valued at $15 million (46 photos)

Sotheby's auction will put up a Ferrari 410 Sport Spider sports car for auction in Monterey, California in mid-August. This is one of only four racing cars in the 410 line, which additionally differs in a number of design nuances. According to the sellers, this circumstance makes the car unique, and they expect to fetch more than $15 million for it. At the same time, in 2022, another 410 Sport Spider from this batch was sold at the same auction, which was valued noticeably more expensive - more than 22 million were paid for it.





Ferrari engineers designed the 410 in the first half of the 1950s with an eye to participating in world championships, including the five-day Carrera Panamericana racing marathon, which took place in Mexico. However, for a number of reasons, the project was suspended: in total, only four cars were assembled. The last two in the batch differed from the others in the design of the chassis and 4.9-liter V12 and were retained for the factory racing team, the third was sold to a private owner, and the fourth is considered an experimental factory prototype - it was assembled as the very first.

Compared to other 410 Sport Spiders, this example has a simplified chassis and engine - a V12 with one spark plug per cylinder, rather than two, as well as a number of external differences. It has, for example, an original egg-shaped radiator grille and its own hood, as well as unusual fender louvres installed at the insistence of the first owner, American collector Tony Parravano.

The first owner of a sports car entered it into a number of American races, but preferred to hire pilots rather than drive the car himself. In this capacity, the famous Carroll Shelby drove the spider to victory at the 1956 Palm Springs Road Races. In April 1960, Tony Parravano mysteriously disappeared, and the sports car began to change owners, one of whom belonged to it for 37 years.

Auctioneers call this example perhaps the most original 410 Sport Spider, also because the car's racing career was short, and it was never involved in an accident that required replacement of units.