James Coburn's 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spyder set new record at auction

MARANELLO, Italy - One of the cars at the RM Auctions/Sotheby’s Ferrari Legend and Passion auction, held today at the Fiorano Circuit, was a stunning 1961 Ferrari California Spyder which once belonged to actor James Coburn. The car achieved an astonishing Euro 7,040,00 million, which is an all-time record for this model.

This fantastic car, an evolution of the 250 GT Tour de France, is one of the best-loved 12- cylinders ever built: it has a total displacement of 2953 cc, punches out 280 hp and features 3 carburettors. It was styled by Pininfarina, who also designed the latest addition to the Ferrari range, which was revealed online just a few days ago and has been named the California in honour of this special car.

The new Ferrari California, which will be officially unveiled at the Paris Show, is a 4,300 cc 8- cylinder model. Despite having been revealed online just a few days ago, it has also set a record of its own: the dedicated www.ferraricalifornia.com website, which features the model’s engine sound and the first official photographs, received a massive 300,000 hits with over 2.5 million pages visited in its first week.

Other stars of the auction included the 1964 Ferrari 250 LM which fetched in excess of 4.5 million euro and one of the 612 Scagliettis, fresh from the Magic India Discovery tour just a few weeks ago, which sold for Euro 220,000. The proceeds from the latter car will be donated to the Pune Centre for Learning Resources, an Indian foundation that provides schooling for children in disadvantaged areas.

Ferrari memorabilia also proved irresistible to bidders: a F1 Pit race control assembly from the 2004 Formula 1 World Championship went under the hammer for just under Euro 50,000 while a complete series of 1949 to 2007 Ferrari annuals sold for over Euro 55,000. Kimi Räikkönen’s race overall, which was also autographed, fetched over Euro 11,000.