An Oxford, UK, classic car auction has posted a 100% sell-through rate and total sales of £1.29m ($2,042,620). The sale is evidence of the continuing strength of the classic car markets in 2012.
The auction's big star was a 1961 Ferrari 250GTE 2+2 'Series 1' Coupé. Found in a barn, the car previously belonged to Oscar-winning producer Agostino De Laurentiis.
De Laurentiis's production credits include such classic movies as Barbarella, King Kong and Hannibal Lector's first cinema outing, Manhunter.
The 1961 Ferrari 250GTE 2+2 'Series 1' Coupé has only had a few owners since. It was offered by a relative of the car's most recent owner who, now deceased, bought the car in 1967.
According to auctioneer Bonhams, the owner only used the car for "eight or nine years" after purchasing it. The 250GTE still carries its last tax disc which expired in 1975.
 The 1961 Ferrari 250GTE 2+2 'Series 1' Coupé |
Not surprisingly, this rare Ferrari attracted plenty of bidder interest by telephone and in the saleroom. It eventually sold to a UK collector.
The classic car choices of big Hollywood producers seem to resonate with today's collectors.
Like the 1959 Ferrari 250 GT Spider California previously owned by Agostino De Laurentiis's Barbarella co-producer, Roger Vadim, which sold for a whopping $5.8m in February.
Vadim famously had relationships with some of the world's most beautiful women including Brigitte Bardot, Annette Strøyberg and Catherine Deneuve. The former two were sometimes seen riding in Vadim's Ferrari 250 GT Spider California near his home in St Tropez.
