Filed under: Classics, Auctions, Supercars, Ferrari, Celebrities

If you look at the $1.35 million price tag on the new LaFerrari and wonder how Ferrari can possibly charge that much for a single car, you could look at the prices of its competitors like the McLaren P1 that lists for almost as much at $1.15 million, you could look to the $2.5 million which Ferrari is said to have charged for the exclusive F60 America - or you could look at the prices at which LaFerrari's predecessors are still trading. Take, for example, this Ferrari F40 which, 25 years since it was built, just sold for nearly $870,000 at auction.

The F40 in question, a 1989 model, may be just one of 1,315 examples made, but it has a rather noteworthy provenance: the car once belonged to Nigel Mansell, the only driver ever to hold both the Formula One and Indy titles at the same time. That Mansell - a man who had access to some of the fastest and most capable racing cars ever made - selected the F40 as his personal ride of choice speaks volumes about the car's abilities and appeal. But then he did, after all, drive for the Scuderia that season, winning the Brazilian and Hungarian grands prix.

The celebrity provenance, however, may not have actually jacked the price up at all. While it may rank towards the top of the list, this was hardly the highest price paid for an F40 at auction. According to Sports Car Market, which tracks such sales, the record currently belongs to a 1993 Ferrari F40 LM that Bonhams also sold for $2.2 million at Monterey. The highest price for a standard, non-LM model was recorded at the same event at $1.43 million.

The Mansell F40 sold to an unidentified telephone bidder during the Bonhams auction event at Knokke-Le-Zoute, Belgium. Other noteworthy lots included a 1984 Lamborghini Countach 5000 S that sold for the equivalent of $420k, a 1972 Ferrari 365 GTC/4 for over $360k, a '65 Lancia Flaminia Zagato for $375k and a Maserati Sebring 3700 for $240k, driving total sales for the day up beyond $4.6 million.

Continue reading Nigel Mansell's Ferrari F40 sells for $870k

Nigel Mansell's Ferrari F40 sells for $870k originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 15 Oct 2014 14:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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