A legendary 70-year-old Ferrari, one of just nine of its kind made and the holder of an amazing record, is going for sale at £11.5m.
The 1956 Ferrari 250 GT LWB Berlinetta Tour de France is among the most historically significant of all Ferrari competition cars.
It got its name after winning the incredibly challenging Tour de France race that year.
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And it is the only known Ferrari to take victory in every race it entered.
It was first owned by the Marquis Alfonso de Portago, known for his illustrious racing career, as well as being an Olympic-level athlete and international Playboy, What’s The Jam reports.
The sale listing states: “This car attains the status of archetypal legend through its unexpected deeds.
“Among Ferrari’s long-wheelbase 250 GT berlinettas, no example fits that description better than the featured lot, chassis number 0557 GT.
“For it was this very car that won the 1956 Tour de France Auto rally, a victory so momentous that the model was henceforth known as the Tour de France, or TdF.
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“This 250 GT Berlinetta is the ninth of 14 first-series cars and the seventh of nine that were clothed in Scaglietti’s early no-louvre coachwork.
“In April 1956, the car was sold to Marquis Alfonso de Portago, one of Europe’s most legendary personalities of the era [and] godson to King Alfonso XIII of Spain…
“In September 1956, the ravishing Ferrari was entered with race number 73 at the Tour de France Auto, where it was driven by de Portago and his friend Ed Nelson.
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“The 2,800-kilometre event included two hillclimbs, one drag race, and six circuit races, with tracks including Le Mans, Comminges, Reims, and Montlhéry.
“De Portago and Nelson managed to win at five of the six circuits, taking 1st overall in the Tour and beating both Stirling Moss’s factory Mercedes-Benz 300 SL and future three-time Tour winner Olivier Gendebien’s Ferrari 250 Europa GT.
“Their benchmark victory forever bestowed this iteration of the 250 GT Berlinetta with the name Tour de France, which has since evolved into one of Maranello’s most hallowed heritage monikers.
“Three weeks later, de Portago drove the 250 GT to victory at the Coupes du Salon at Montlhéry, followed by a class win in the Rome Grand Prix, and outright victory in the Coupes USA of April 1957, marking a historic moment in that the car won every race it entered.
“Sadly, this would be the car’s last outing with the Marquis, as his 335 S was involved in a tragic accident a month later in the Mille Miglia in the notoriously dangerous race’s final running.
“Chassis number 0557 GT was then returned to the Maranello factory and sold to de Portago’s friend, C Keith Schellenberg, a shipping magnate residing in the UK.
“Schellenberg kept the Ferrari for over two decades, and the car was only seldom publicly seen before being offered for sale in 1983.
“This 250 GT was then purchased by enthusiast Peter Palumbo, who in turn sold the car in 1992 to esteemed marque collector Lorenzo Zambrano.
“During his ownership, the Berlinetta received a ground-up restoration by highly respected Ferrari restorer Bob Smith Coachworks of Gainesville, Texas. The Tour de France was exhibited frequently over the following 12 years.”
Following its last sale in 2015, the car has spent most of the last 10 years in “controlled storage”.
Now it has been certified as “extremely original, retaining its original matching-numbers engine, gearbox, rear axle, and bodywork” and “gaining Ferrari Classiche certification” this month.
The listing concludes: “Undoubtedly the most important of all the 250 GT Tour de France examples, this long-wheelbase Berlinetta should attract top-tier Ferrari collectors and connoisseurs worldwide, sure to crown the most significant collections.”
The Tour de France is being auctioned in Paris by RM Sotheby’s on 28 January.
