The first Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider ever built is being auctioned this Saturday at RM Sotheby’s during Monterey Car Week. The rare car holds a pre-sale estimate of between $16 and $18 million.
Chosen as the show car for the 1960 Geneva Motor Show, this California Spider is described by Sotheby’s as “the finest, most important example available.”
The SWB California Spider is a storied model and a key piece of Ferrari’s mid-20th century design evolution. Its origins stem from an idea for a Ferrari that could be driven on the road and the track. It was pitched by California-based distributor John von Neumann, and the concept was a hit, soon counting celebrities such as James Coburn and Brigitte Bardot among its buyers.
Its legend was further cemented in the cultural zeitgeist when a 1961 model was featured in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” though the film used three replicas for production — one of which sold for $360,000 at auction in 2020.
Only 56 SWBs were produced in 1960-63 by Scaglietti in Modena, Italy, making the iconic car extraordinarily rare.
The Sotheby's car (chassis number 1795 GT) last sold in 2008, and other public sales of 250 SWB California Spiders are extremely rare, commanding massive price tags whenever they surface. A 1962 example sold for more than $18 million last year at Gooding & Company’s Amelia Island Auctions.
The 1795 GT was displayed during the 50-Year Ferrari exhibit at the Petersen Automotive Museum in 1997 as well as in a “Playboy” article in 2005.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct.