GARAGE
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12 Linkage 016 ISSUE 016 COVER: Audrain Motorsport FEATURES 36 THE AUDRAIN GARAGE Is the garage’s function to store cars or display cars? Sometimes it has to accomplish both goals Donald Osborne 66 GARAGE MUST-HAVES What it takes to make the most of your space Jim Pickering 88 HIGH MOUNTAIN CLASSICS How a return to analog service became the goal for one poster car enthusiast Chuck Gilchrest 92 A GARAGE PACKED WITH MEMORIES Jim Beeger’s big car barn is a shrine to Laguna Seca — and a lifetime of living the car life Chester Allen REGULAR STOPS 28 WORLD OF CARS RM Sotheby’s ModaMiami rethinks the conventional concours Chester Allen 146 GIFTS AND GADGETS Girardo & Co. created a lush, twovolume opus about the Ferrari 550 Maranello Prodrive cars that lit up GT racing from 2001 through 2008 Chester Allen 152 TAILLIGHTS The Amelia or ModaMiami? Chester Allen 36 66
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CONTENTS 14 Linkage 016 OPINIONS 24 FROM THE PUBLISHER The underrated pleasures of a home garage Donald Osborne 48 NOTE FROM EUROPE A real — and special — Ferrari 250 GTO sells to a new owner with guts and foresight Simon Kidston 50 FUNNY THAT YOU ASKED Why Jay Leno needed 140,000 square feet of garage Jay Leno 52 AMERICAN MUSCLE See one, do one, teach one Jim Pickering 54 TALKING FAST McLaren Racing is building for the future after a year of growth Zak Brown 56 BUILDING A STORY Part Two of White Lightning's Tale: On to The Great American Run Rich Taylor 60 THE LONG ROAD Peter Mullin’s cars and garage hooked others into the car life Greta Gooding 76 VINTAGE AUTOMOTIVE POSTERS How you can start a collection of vivid, exciting posters from different ages Tony Singer EXPERIENCES 78 THE KNOWLEDGE — POWER OF THE SPACE Designing and building a worldclass garage that houses worldclass cars demands an artistic eye David Moyer 96 GRIOT’S MULTI-USE GARAGE Griot's Garage headquarters in Tacoma, Washington is a garage for the ages Chester Allen 140 YOUNGTIMERS Bridging a gap Sara Ryan VALUES 104 MARKET FOCUS Elevating the experience Jim Pickering 106 THIS SEASON’S CHURN What’s coming up for auction — and when AUCTION SNAPSHOTS 108 Bonhams Cars On the Grid: The Abu Dhabi Auction Chad Taylor 124 Vicari Auctions, Biloxi, MS B. Mitchell Carlson MARKET MOVER 120 1967 Mercedes-Benz 230 AMG Conversion — $188,301 Bob Sorokanich 136 ONLINE MADNESS Bargain-basement fun Nick Jaynes 144 AUTOMOBILIA Vintage tire posters are on a roll Carl Bomstead 140 96 120 48
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24 Linkage 016 FROM THE PUBLISHER GARAGE IS WHERE the heart is. Oh wait, that’s supposed to be “home….” As a car enthusiast who has lived a major portion of his life in cities, specifically Manhattan and Brooklyn in New York City, a garage has too often been a space nowhere near where I slept. As such, I could only look on with envy at those friends and acquaintances who could stroll a few feet across a lawn or through a doorway in their homes into another space — all their own — where the objects of their passion awaited them patiently in their own safe, secure, private space. My garage life was a series of loaned or rented buildings usually owned by friends and all at least 90 minutes to two hours away. Needless to say, as they were also not my spaces, I could do little to personalize them, and the time I spent in them was minimal. It was enough to check the vitals of the car before I started it, and to ensure that when I put it away at the end of the drive that all was in order, ready for my next visitation. It was hardly the thing of dreams. But, as my life has seen me in various homes through the years (in fact there was a period of pre-digital time in which friends stated flatly that they only put our address into their phone books in pencil as it was likely to change in a short time anyway) and some of them allowed me to indulge in the luxury of a private garage. A place for treasures Some reading this might also be in a situation which I know I share with many friends and colleagues in the automotive world: having a significant other who is understanding of, but not fully sharing, an automotive passion. This can result, as it does for me, in the strict monitoring of where automotive-related art and artifacts might be displayed. Automotive art and artifacts are not allowed in the living room, dining room, kitchen, halls and bedrooms. Proximity, Warmth and Comfort After years of cars stored far-away garages, it’s good to have a garage connected to the house by DONALD OSBORNE Having a garage in this case is a very good thing. Especially as I have a great affinity for automotive objects. My collection of signs, banners, prints, photos, toys, sculpture, books and random interesting and varied automotive parts, such as speedometers, radios, steering wheels, carburetors, intake manifolds and pistons began long before they had a home anywhere near my home. Even when I did have a place to display my treasures alongside my cars, most of the time the accent was still on the storage aspect of the space rather than the décor. I simply failed to find the time or the inspiration to fully decorate the space. One particular highlight, which I miss terribly, is a warehouse I had in Palm Springs, CA — which had very tall ceilings. It was the only time I was able to display one of the highlights of my collection, one of the giant banners which hung in the windows at Christie’s in New York City and later in the hangar at the Monterey Jet Center in 2007 when they sold the 1963 Ferrari 250 GT Lusso first owned by Steve McQueen. I’ve not had a place to show it since, and it remains rolled up in a friend’s warehouse in Palm Springs, awaiting its next outing. A place of one’s own I must say that I am pleased that the small garage in my current home in Newport, RI has seen my decorating efforts rewarded with a comfortable chair, reading lamp, scatter rugs, a small library, a plethora of tin toys and models, signs, some artwork, advertising banners and the first full display of my complete set of U.S. and Canadian license plates from the year I was born on a wall. It is a pleasant place to spend a bit of time in, especially when I remember to move the seemingly ever-present stack of luggage which somehow seldom seems to find its way back to our storage unit, thanks to the ever-more-constant travel on the calendar. I still have a bit of arranging and fiddling to do, but my garage is slowly becoming the suitable frame to display the car I have sharing the space inside. I have dreams of winter evenings spent leafing through a copy from of my complete collection of “Automobile Year” while sipping on a comforting beverage while snow falls gently outside. No matter what the garage dream might be, for me it’s not about scale, but comfort, warmth and familiarity, combined with proximity. With that, I’m good.
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26 Linkage 016 ADVERTISING Sr. Vice President, Sponsorships SCOTT MACLEOD [email protected] 1-203-945-7855 Advertising Executive KATEE WALLER [email protected] Chairman NICHOLAS SCHORSCH Managing Director MICHAEL WEIL Publisher/CEO DONALD OSBORNE Executive Editor CHESTER ALLEN [email protected] / [email protected] Managing Editor JIM PICKERING [email protected] Art Director NORA JAMES Editor at Large JAY LENO Columnists SIMON KIDSTON, JIM PICKERING, JAY LENO, CARL BOMSTEAD, RICH TAYLOR, ZAK BROWN, GRETA GOODING Contributors GARY AXON, JUSTIN BELL, BRETT BERK, CARL BOMSTEAD, BRAD BOWLING, MARTIN BUTTON, SANDRA BUTTON, B. MITCHELL CARLSON, BEN CHESTER, MILES COLLIER, COLIN COMER, MASSIMO DELBÒ, WES EISENSCHENK, CHUCK GILCHREST, MAX GIRARDO, GRETA GOODING, JAY HARDEN, PAUL HARDIMAN, RUSSELL HAYES, PIERRE HEDARY, NICK JAYNES, PRESCOTT KELLY, DAVE KINNEY, NED LAWLER, KATE LAWLER, MICHAEL LEVEN, SUE MEAD, DOMINIQUE PROVOST, SARA RYAN, ROB SASS, BILL SCHEFFLER, ELANA SCHERR, NICHOLAS SCHORSCH, STEPHEN SERIO, SAM STOCKHAM, JUDY STROPUS, CHAD TAYLOR, THOR THORSON, CHAD TYSON, BASEM WASEF, MARK WIGGINTON, JEFF ZURSCHMEIDE Staff Photographer JORDAN “JOKER” SMITH Cartoonist SCOTT HASELWOOD 016 CONTACT US Subscription help: 1-503-312-0846 or [email protected] For advertising, please contact: [email protected] For partnerships/sponsorships, please contact: [email protected] To reach the Editor, please contact: [email protected] For general inquiries, please contact: [email protected] Mailing address: 256 Maple Ave., Newport, RI, 02840 BUSINESS Chief Operating Officer BENJAMIN MERCER Director of Marketing and Public Relations KATELYN MCSHERRY [email protected] [email protected] LINKAGE 009 STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP Publication Title: LINKAGE. 2. Publication Number: 25210. 3. Filing Date: 9/9/2022. Issue Frequency: 4 issues per year. 5. No. Of Issues Published Annually: 4. 6. Annual Subscription Price: $59.00. 7. Complete Mailing Address of Known Office of Publication: Linkage, 256 Maple Ave, Newport, R.I. 02840 Contact Person: M. Benjamin Mercer, Phone: 401-367-4497. 8. Complete Mailing Address of Headquarters or General Business Office of Publisher: 256 Maple Ave, Newport, R.I. 02840. 9. Publisher: Audrain Motorsport, Inc., 256 Maple Ave, Newport, R.I. 02840. Executive Editor: Chester Allen, 256 Maple Ave, Newport, R.I. 02840. Managing Editor: Jim Pickering, 256 Maple Ave, Newport, R.I. 02840. 10. Owner: Audrain Motorsport, Inc., 256 Maple Ave, Newport, R.I. 02840. 11. Known Bondholders, Mortgagees, and Other Security Holders Owning or Holding 1 Percent or More of Total Amount of Bonds, Mortgages or Other Securities: None. 12. Tax Status: Has Not Changed During Preceding 12 Months. 13. Publication Title: LINKAGE. 14. Issue Date for Circulation Data Below: May 2022 2021. 15. Extent and Nature of Circulation (Average No. Copies Each Issue During Preceding 12 Months/No. Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date): a. Total Number of Copies (Net Press Run): 22,000. b. 1. Paid/Requested Outside-County Mail Subscriptions Stated on USPS Form 3541: (11,239/22,000). 2. Paid In-County Subscriptions Stated on USPS Form 3541: (0/22,000). 3. Sales Through Dealers and Carriers, Street Vendors, Counter Sales, and other Non-USPS Paid Distribution: (0/22,000). 4. Requested Copies Distributed by Other Classes Mailed Through the USPS: (2,096/22,000) c. Total Paid and/or Requested Circulation: (13,335/22,000). d. 1. Outside County Nonrequested Copies Stated on USPS Form 3541: (6,165/22,000). 2. In-County Nonrequested Copies Stated on USPS Form 3541: (0/22,000). 3. Nonrequested Copies Distributed Through the USPS by Other Classes of Mail: (0/22,000). 4. Nonrequested Copies Distributed Outside the Mail: (2,500/22,000). e. Total Nonrequested Distribution: (6,165/22,000). f. Total Nonrequested Distribution: (6,165/22,000). g. Copies Not Distributed: (0/0). h. Total: (22,000/22,000). i. Percent Paid and/or Requested Circulation: (60.6/100). 16. Electronic Copy Circulation: a. Requested and Paid Electronic Copies: (0/0). b. Total Requested and Paid Print Copies (Line 15c) +Requested /Paid Electronic Copies: (0/0). c. Total Requested Copy Distribution (Line 15f) + Requested/Paid Electronic Copies: (0/0). d. Percent Paid and/or Requested Circulation (Both Print and Electronic Copies): (0/0). 17. Publication of Statement of Ownership: November 2022. I certify that all information furnished on this form is true and complete: M. Benjamin Mercer, Chief Operating Officer, November 2022
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28 Linkage 016 WORLD OF CARS Hi Rob, it looks like you’ve got big plans for your new ModaMiami event this year. Is ModaMiami a new look at a concours weekend? Yes, although we don’t want guests or participants to come into this event thinking it will be like a traditional concours. The ModaMiami event is more of a celebration of the collector car world — old and new — with elevated experiences in entertainment, culinary and luxury marketplaces. As a leader in this market, we are always looking into the future and thinking how the next generation is going to be inspired and excited. The people at RM Sotheby’s are visionaries, and with those qualities in mind, ModaMiami was born. How did you get the idea to create a new concours weekend, and why did you choose the Biltmore Hotel Miami Coral Gables? As most readers are aware, in 2021, a few past employees of RM — along with the Hagerty Insurance group — formed an auction company — along with going into Goodbye Amelia Island, Hello Miami EDITOR’S NOTE: RM Sotheby’s has created a new Florida event: ModaMiami, and it is scheduled for the same weekend as the 29th Annual The Amelia Concours d’Elegance. Rob Myers, chairman CEO of the RM Group of Companies, sat down with Linkage to talk about his latest project:
Linkage 016 29 the Concours business by purchasing the Amelia Island Concours from my friend Bill Warner as they were preparing to bring Hagerty into the publicly traded stock market. It was obvious that they would take over the title auction space that RM had with Bill Warner for 24 years, and we felt it was time for our company to exit Amelia Island and look for an exciting new location. My feeling had been for a while that the Amelia show was getting older. I, along with our team, had been feeling ready to explore fresh ground, so it was meant to be. We had previously staged an auction months earlier in a very stylish parking structure in Miami that my team found was an easy place to fly into and super convenient for all of our clients to attend. While in Miami a couple of our friends suggested that we visit the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Florida, and both Gord Duff and I knew right away that it was our new home for a fresh, exciting event. Miami is easy access to fly into, it’s fresh — and from watching The Amelia last year, it’s time for change. We left Amelia Island with an amazing final auction, and are proud of our last Amelia fundraising effort for the Warner family. We are now looking forward to and are quite excited for Miami. What kind of experiences can your guests expect from February 29 through March 2? We are still working out the details and are holding back some exciting announcements, but the mission of the staff and all of those helping us is to create a weekend where our guests and clients come out feeling like they were just on vacation — but at the same time surrounded by their passion of beautifully represented vehicles from across time. We want to create an experience that is relaxing but also provides plenty of activities that the whole family can enjoy. What classes of cars will be on display? How many classes will be on display? Since we are not doing a traditional concours, we have decided to lay the show field out in “collections.” Collections from early motoring/Brass, elegant but powerful 1920s-1940s, American ‘50s & ‘60s, Youngtimers, Grand Tourers, the untouched preservation cars — and several more well-curated collections. In total, there will be about 20-22 groupings of beautiful vehicles representing their era of importance. To pull it all together we will be celebrating Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance Best in Show cars, featuring displays of many winners throughout the show field. It looks like the show/concours part of the weekend will be on Saturday and Sunday? How will this work? Yes, we wanted to make a weekend out of it for our entrants, guests, and the local Miami enthusiasts. We are seeing that our clients and the new generation are looking for more than just a walk around a golf course. They are looking for nighttime entertainment and overall more to do as they enjoy the sights of the show. We will have cars that will only arrive on Sunday, we will have our auction cars out for preview along with entrant cars displayed for the full two days. Everything has been thought of by our team, from weather to security, as we do with all our live events. However, in this case, not only will our entrants enjoy seeing the excited faces of those admiring their car(s), they will also be able to enjoy themselves with some luxury shopping at Sotheby’s Salon, join their families by the iconic Biltmore pool where we will plan to have entertainment in the way of water dancers — in addition to experiencing elevated culinary experiences, if they choose. The amazing thing about Miami is that in addition to what we have in store for our guests, there is also so much more in just a short drive for our guests to experience. What is the ModaMiami Cruise all about? Similar to not wanting to do a traditional concours, we also put a lot of thought into a rally idea. We drove the streets of Coral Gable and the surrounding area MANY, MANY times, in both old and new cars, and we decided that to keep with the vision we set out with, which was to create a special but, above anything else, a quality event. It made for the perfect opportunity to do a cruise rather than a rally. Although the details are in the final stages of being set, I can tell you that it will be a cruise to a beautiful local landmark, allowing our entrants to walk and take in the enchanting gardens, with a scenic drive through the beautiful streets of Coral Gables on return to the Biltmore. Having a RM Sotheby’s Auction over the weekend fits really well. How many cars do you expect to run across the block, and what star cars do you have so far? Yes, combining the auction with a show field is not new, but how we plan to do it will be. We have decided to spread out the auction over two days starting on Friday, March 1 and continuing into Saturday. March 2. We haven’t released our star car(s), but I encourage you and your readers to sign up to the ModaMiami Newsletter to receive regular updates. Is the Sotheby’s Salon a series of seminars? No, the Sotheby’s Salon will be a location set up for our partner Sotheby’s Luxury divisions to showcase and offer their exquisite items, from purses to jewelry and more. The Concours a Nuit sounds interesting. I’ve never been to an evening concours before. What’s going to happen? Yes, this was an idea our Curator, Jeremy Jackson-Sytner, recommended on the very first day he visited the Biltmore grounds. Although the Biltmore is a magnificent building, it really takes on a whole other look and feel at night. Seeing the Biltmore light up at night gave way to his inspiration to have the cars under lights and make it a night to celebrate. There will be entertainment, fabulous food and drinks as our guests look out from the grand patio onto the cars shimmering under the stars and lights. The 100 Club Supercar Showcase on the last day sounds exciting. How many supercars will be on display, and how will they be chosen? Again, our team wanted to do something outside of tradition and the traditional “Supercar Sunday.” The 100 Club will see many of the younger generation and enthusiasts revving their engines as they enter the grounds on Sunday morning and will remain on the lawn for all guests to admire. How can car people get involved, in terms of showing a car or buying tickets and making hotel reservations? Very easily. They can reach out to [email protected] or they can go to our website (modamiami.com).
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THE AUDRAIN GARAGE Audrain’s Mix of Storage, Maintenance and Display The garage — or garages — of a large collection must fill a variety of needs in an efficient, attractive setting by DONALD OSBORNE THE WORD “GARAGE” has so many meanings. The Cambridge dictionary starts with: “A building where a car is key, built next to or as part of a house.” Merriam-Webster: “A shelter or repair shop for automotive vehicles.” Dictionary.com calls it “A building or indoor area for parking or storing motor vehicles.” A garage is all those things — and more. 36 Linkage 016
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38 Linkage 016 THE AUDRAIN GARAGE Storage and display For many institutions, such as automotive museums, the storage of collection vehicles not on display has typically been handled much like a fine art museum manages its collection — in a functional, rather than aesthetic, manner. Of course temperature, humidity, dust and light control are key for both, but there are other concerns as well. It is also very common in the art world that merely the smallest portion of a museum’s inventory is on show at any one time, much like an iceberg revealing just its tip. Automobile museums which feature a permanent collection in their galleries year-round usually have all out at one time, so storage takes on less importance in cases such as these. Collections in which the cars are primarily on display and are rarely — if ever — driven have a very different approach and aesthetic. Many display collections feature raised platforms for vehicles. Dedicated diffused lighting boxes — and sometimes additional special spot- and pin-lighting — are used to highlight the cars. This is similar to galleries in Most often garages are for storage — but how does that relate to the needs of collections and collectors? At what point does a location to keep vehicles protected from the elements become more — a way to present and celebrate them as well as to perform its most basic function? Answers to these questions are found in the intention of the collector and collections. Display or use — or both! If a collection is meant to be largely viewed in place inside a garage as a display showroom, vehicles can often be seen on platforms with specialized lighting to highlight details of each of the cars. For other collections, wherein the cars are regularly used, removed and replaced, the storage most often takes on the feeling of a storage garage, where operational efficiency is prized over aesthetics. That a middle ground can be struck can be seen in many personal and some institutional collections as well. The rise of the so-called “garage mahal” has seen lavishly decorated and built lounges where vehicles sometimes seem to be odd guests. Garage mahals can be attached to residences or free-standing structures.
Linkage 016 39 museums, offices and homes, which are designed to accommodate particular works of art that are not intended to be moved from their specific installed location. In this way, a vehicle might be observed to its best or most dramatic effect — but obviously exchanging one car or motorcycle for another would mean the re-aiming of lights and perhaps changing of the platform itself. This can also be a very effective way to have a collection space that also functions as an event venue. When an event happens, the cars are separated from the floor space — both protecting them and making them very much “objects” on view. For a collection which is more dynamic in its use, such a display plan might not be ideal. That is especially true for collections where the cars are regularly rotated either in their display space or if the “garage” is a combination of storage, detail maintenance, private tour and event venue. In such a case, the requirements move from the purely aesthetic to the practical, but with many collectors and some institutions, the atmosphere also counts. A warehouse is one thing, but if an enthusiasts’ point of view is to come through, the garage must be an attractive space where you want to spend time. The Audrain Way To see one of the more illustrative examples of this latter type of “display storage” or “storage display” it is interesting to examine how an organization, such as the Audrain Collections in Rhode Island, handles this challenge. The Audrain Automobile Museum’s gallery comprises 7,500 square feet in an historic landmark 1903 building on Bellevue Avenue, the “Millionaire’s Row” of Gilded Age Newport. As such, the exhibitions, which change four times each year, typically feature 17 to 19 cars with perhaps an additional four to five motorcycles at one time. The Audrain Museum has been open for nearly 10 years. During this time, the exhibitions have told compellingly curated stories on a wide range of
40 Linkage 016 THE AUDRAIN GARAGE automotive topics and themes. The exhibitions have also fully utilized the collections’ vehicles, which range from 1899 to the current model year. However, between the Museum’s dedicated collection and those from the associated collections which support the Museum, more than 400 automobiles and motorcycles are not on public display at any one time throughout the year. In addition, all the vehicles in the collections are fully road-worthy, and they get regular use in driving and riding video programs, national and international tours, rallies and competition events as well as concours d’elegance across the United States and in Europe. So, a static display installation outside of the actual Audrain Automobile Museum’s Newport gallery would not keep with the dynamic mission and use of the Audrain collections. In a combination of purpose-built and adaptively reused spaces in Rhode Island and Virginia, the Audrain has found a mix of the practical and the aesthetic. The practical comes with generous general lighting which allows the in-house detail and maintenance staff to see and care for the cars, ensuring the appearance and operational status of the vehicles is kept at a high level. State-of-the-art HVAC systems ensure the optimal temperature and humidity levels are maintained. The structures are designed and laid out to optimize the movement of vehicles in and out as necessary with minimal disruption. The buildings are finished in easy-to-maintain surfaces, which provide a clean environment for the cars and visitors. To enhance the visiting experience, the lighting can be controlled to showcase the vehicles for events. Period automobilia — signs, banners, artwork and accessories — decorate the spaces to give them added visual appeal. However, the decorations do not interfere with the operational aspects of moving cars in and out.
Linkage 016 41 Audrain’s mixed-use space As a combination of storage and entertainment space, the building housing the Audrain Motorsport Vanderbilt Club is perhaps the best example of what the organization has accomplished. Once a transmission rebuilding shop, the building now houses a group of the collections’ most interesting and historic vehicles in one end and a fitted mahogany-shelved library and large club lounge in the other. Furnished with overstuffed sofas, armchairs, art and a bar — and large-screen televisions — the Vanderbilt Club is the site of social gatherings, motorsport viewing parties, seminar presentations, small guided tours and even sit-down dinners, with the flexibility of both spaces a bonus in both display and event use. Finally, all the Audrain storage facilities share, as fully working spaces, the dictionary definitions of “garage” while going past them into places of worship, wonder and pleasure as well — the true enthusiast’s definition of the word.
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48 Linkage 016 NOTE FROM EUROPE A 250 GTO with Many Stories A rare moment when a 250 GTO just may have sold at a bargain price by SIMON KIDSTON “FOR THE THIRD and final time Ladies and Gentlemen, for the Ferrari GTO, it’s going now at forty… seven… million… dollars. It’s yours Sir, SOLD!” Since the auctioneer’s hammer echoed sharply on RM Sotheby’s rostrum a few weeks ago in New York to seal the fate of the 1962 Ferrari 330 LM/ 250 GTO billed as “The One,” a maelstrom of chatter has swept through the classic car world. “Was it really a 250 GTO?” “Does it actually have a GTO chassis number?” and to the likely amazement of non-experts, “Why didn’t it sell for more?” After the auction ended, I went over to congratulate the modest seller and his overwhelmed family. He’d bought the Ferrari in 1985 for $525,000 after floating his radar detector business. “I figured maybe now I could make my dream car a reality,” he said of buying the car in 1985. “I’d always loved the GTO but had no idea how to find one, so a buddy and I drove to a race meeting at Sebring thinking we’d just ask around. By coincidence, we got talking to some guys who said a friend wanted to sell his GTO. Turns out it was a five-hour drive away, so I got in my car, went to see it and shook hands to buy it there and then.” A special club Car guys may smile at the auction house comparing an old Ferrari to “a Perseid meteor… a flash of lightning… a speed machine so celebrated that it qualifies as the very definition of a legend,” but at $51.7 million with commission, it’s now joined an exclusive club with just a few paintings and sculptures which have been auctioned for as much (and a certain Mercedes, but that’s another story). So, what did the mystery bidder buy, and was it worth the price? But, first, a little history. Once unloved The Ferrari 250 GTO story is probably the most extreme example of an object which went from being obsolete and unwanted to earning legendary status amongst collectors. Built as a homologated (“O” for “Omologato”) evolution of the
Linkage 016 49 racing Ferrari 250 SWB to stay ahead of rivals from Jaguar, Aston Martin and Shelby, it was sold to proven private drivers for the equivalent of about $8,000 in 1962. It became the car to beat that year, but only after Ferrari had experimented with other recipes, one of which was the 330 LM. Most car historians would struggle to identify the 330 LM, but think of it as a 250 GTO with more punch: a 4-liter V12 in place of the classic 3-liter engine, and a 4-speed gearbox, as the motor’s extra torque made the usual 5-speed redundant. Otherwise, it’s basically the same car: same 2.4-meter wheelbase, different engine mounts, reinforced chassis crossmember and the same body style except some extra cooling vents. While regular 250 GTOs share the same chassis number prefix as even a humble 250 GT coupé, the sister model had a unique 330 LM prefix. Our subject car was built for the Ferrari works team (the only 250 GTO-look car they campaigned, plus one 250 GTO/64) and raced at the Nürburgring 1,000km where it came in second. At Le Mans, British driver Mike Parkes stuffed it into the sand bank trying to outbrake rival Graham Hill, and the car retired with overheating after it was dug out. Factory duties over, the 330 LM was disposed of to one of Maranello’s most-valued gentleman driver clients: World War II hero and wealthy industrialist Pietro Ferraro of Trieste, near Venice. Enzo Ferrari wrote to ask if he could retain the 4-liter 330 engine and instead fit a three-liter from another car. “Yes” came the answer eventually, “but on condition I can also buy the car the three-liter comes from.” Internal documents show that the 330 LM was converted to GTO spec inside Ferrari’s workshops, fitted with a prototype 250 Testa Rossa/250 P engine and normal GTO gearbox. Both are still fitted. New engine mounts were added (the old ones are still present) and a rectangular cooling hatch added to the nose. It was sold to its first private owner by Ferrari, to all intents and purposes, as a 250 GTO. Ferraro enjoyed modest success before selling the car to 20-year-old Sicilian hopeful Ferdinando Latteri, and period racing images show it with triple nose vents and wind-up windows. In 1967, Mario Tosi of Los Angeles bought it via Ferrari for $8,000, including a repaint in yellow, and it began a new life as a fun, fast road car in the United States. Since then, the collecting world has changed beyond recognition. Historians like the late Jess Pourret did much to popularize the Ferrari 250 GTO with his first book on the model in 1976, cataloguing every car chassis by chassis, with race results, crashes, engine swaps, re-bodies and other colorful episodes. Adding to the mystique, since 1982, an exclusive one-model tour held every five years has cemented GTO ownership as “a club” — the price of the car being the real ticket to entry. A gutsy deal So is this car a 250 GTO? According to Ferrari’s own criteria for certification, yes: it’s essentially as it left the factory. Collectors can’t deny this, but when faced with a choice between a great car which needs explaining and another which doesn’t, they usually vote with their wallet. “Regular” 250 GTOs are well-known to have sold privately for close to $80 million, and unlike this car, they weren’t factory team cars. Will this car get the owner into all the GTO Tours? Of course. Does it look, sound and drive like a GTO? Yes. Does anyone ask how a GTO drives before buying one? No comment. In summary, at these levels you’re dealing with a handful of very successful people who’ve done their research and are advised by experts. Normal world notions of “value” stopped applying in a much lower orbit. The new owner bought a unique prototype for less than the price of a customer 250 GTO. I’d call that ballsy and far-sighted at the same time. A video journey back in time As a postscript, look up “Ferrari 250 GTO on Mulholland Drive” on YouTube. You’ll come across a grainy cine-film video shot in 1969–1970 by a group of college-age kids racing each other up and down the famous Los Angeles road — that runs along the ridge of the Santa Monica Mountains — in their well-used old cars: three red GTOs plus a SWB California Spider, which they decide halfway through the film to paint like a U.S. Army Jeep. Narrator Stephen Mitchell, who owned one of the three GTOs, recalled 40 years later: “I can’t tell you how many times I’d just get in the car and go for a ride. Sometimes I’d end up in Las Vegas or Palm Springs or San Francisco, but it was a great time for me, and the car was magnificent to own and enjoy and created some fantastic memories.” Today those three GTOs are probably worth as much as Mulholland Drive was in 1969, so they now live more sedate lives: One sleeps peacefully in Ralph Lauren’s collection; another occasionally ventures out from a beautiful estate above Pebble Beach, and the third one — which its then-owner Mario Tosi was filmed driving for the last time, as he’d just sold it to buy a new Maserati Ghibli — is the very same $51.7 million car we’ve just been discussing. And no mention of whether it was really a GTO or not….
50 Linkage 016 FUNNY THAT YOU ASKED AS A KID growing in my parents’ house, garage space was always at a premium — there was never enough. In fact, one of the reasons I got into motorcycling was that you could put three or four motorcycles in the space for one car. Going to college in Boston was a real nightmare because I had to park my 1954 Hudson Hornet on the street, and I had nightmares that it would get stolen — which it did! Each day for two months, I went down to the impound lot to see if my Hudson had been recovered — but no luck. Near the end of the second month, I noticed an older policeman giving me the eye. “Come back in 20 minutes,” he said. When I came back, he pulled me aside and told me my car was buried in the back row of the impound lot. He told me one of the other cops had recovered it, and if it wasn’t claimed in 90 days, he could buy it, so he hid it where no one would find it. This cop just felt sorry for me after seeing me searching for it every day. From that point onward, I vowed never to be without a garage again. When I got a little successful, I bought a beautiful house in Beverly Hills. It came with a three-car garage, or as I called it, a beginning. That garage worked great until I had four cars. Then it became a real problem. For some reason, my Beverly Hills neighbors objected to World War I 18.5-litre aero engines with open pipes firing up on Sunday afternoons. I had to find someplace with no noise restrictions. After months of searching, I found the ideal place: An industrial building near Burbank airport. It was a place with a lot of history. The famous flyer Amelia Earhart had her hanger right across the way, and Lockheed Martin aircraft built their fighter planes directly across from my building. In fact, the building right next to me had walls that were 14 feet thick because the planes would taxi across the runway and test their machine guns by firing them into the wall. Finally, a place where I could make noise! The initial building I purchased was 17,500 square feet in size. This became my Malibu beach house. I’m not a beach guy, and I’m not a vacation guy. I sleep in my house, but I live in my garage. Bigger is better My dream has always been to be able to keep all the cars I own in one place. I was quickly outgrowing my space in my original 17,500-square-foot building. Lucky for me it’s almost impossible to run a business and make a profit in California, so as my neighbors closed up shop and moved to Texas or Florida, I was able to acquire those buildings. My garage is now approximately 140,000 square feet with over 200 cars and 168 motorcycles. Living in The Garage I’m not a beach guy, and I’m not a vacation guy. I sleep in my house, but I live in my garage by JAY LENO