Has the vintage Ferrari market matured?

I guess there are different tastes out there, but I am not a fan of the car. If I were spending more than a million on a Ferrari, that is about the last one I'd choose.

 

Agree completely. Classic example of the demand/supply theory. Still a beautiful car though, especially the coachwork.

 

Beautiful car, but perhaps not as exquisite as saw a Lusso, 275, etc. IMHO, need to get rid of the wide white walls - look at the in period photos - much more attractive. To paraphrase, I would not kick this out of my garage.

 

Agreed those white walls are horrible, and I'm not a fan of 2 tone paint, more evocative of 50's Americana than Italian exotica.

All in they eye of the beholder I guess , maybe not as sleek and as evocative of speed as the 60's 250 and 275 series cars?

Mind you what do I know? I drive a four seater.

 

It's a very interesting point. IMHO, it's hard to think that someone willing to plunk down $2.5 million for a Lusso that cost $1.0 million 18 months ago ins't aware of the sea change in the Ferrari "pecking order". Perhaps that person is deciding that "looks" (which are subjective, granted) are more highly prized than "provenance", at least in this head-to-head comparison.

 

John: The "early" Ferrari's are an acquired taste. Honestly, in my opinion, they generally drive poorly. Reliability is a major issue in even moderate usage. The gearboxes are difficult to master, so much so that Motion Products has a constant stream of these cars through their shop to be converted to the Tremec T-5 Ford modern transmissions so the cars can be driven. In their defense, they are ALL rare and most are unique, with interesting histories. The engines can be made to perform well and the cars can be quite quick, but brakes are not what we are used to, even when compared to 250 series drums. I think that as collectors become familiar with the 250, 330 and 275 cars, and as their Ferrari knowledge expands, some wish to begin to investigate the earlier cars, and as such their values are increasing, but for different reasons than the later cars.

 

Those are interesting points. Which do we think is the crossover model where the older more difficult/dedicated to own cars became the more generally appreciated and an all-round easier proposition? I have a 1957 250 GT Ellena, I think it falls into the latter category but others may disagree. It does have drum brakes but the gearchange is sweet and is generally easy to drive. I would have thought that most people's view would be that the easier cars would be the next generation, 250 GTE/SWB/GTO onwards?

David

 

It's all demand as the supply side is so much tighter for the 50's cars. I don't really ever remember the Europa being on the high side of the vintage cars though. He is a quick snapshot of the 102 cars slated to sell in Monterey. Broken down by time period:

1950-1954- 4
55-59- 5
60-64- 19
65-69- 33
70-74- 17
75-80- 2 and should be noted that both are formula one cars
81-84- 4
85-89- 3
90-94- 3
95-99- 3
00-04- 4
05-09- 2
2010 + 1

As to the Ferrari market maturity, I don't really see the buyers being different people. IF you just look at the upcoming Gooding auction, of the 123 cars, 31 are from the 50's, 48 from the 60's, and 11 from the 70's. So a better balance between the 2 decades.

 

David: I would agree that the Ellena is a "transition" car. The Porsche synchronized gearboxes, ZF steering boxes and the better (but still maintenance intensive) drum brakes of the later Boanos, TdFs and Ellenas start Ferrari on the way to more user friendly cars.