‘Big Five’ Ferrari Collection Sold At Auction At Nearly US$20 Million

The quintet of Ferrari halo cars, dubbed the 'big Five', were recently auctioned off at hefty sums by RM Sotheby's.

A collection of five Ferrari halo cars made headlines recently as all went under the hammer through renowned auction house RM Sotheby’s. Collectively, this quintet, widely dubbed online as the ‘Big Five’ collection, fetched a hefty sum too.

Coincidentally, all five vehicles were dressed in similar shades of Ferrari’s signature red or ‘rosso’ paintwork. Said ‘Big Five’ formed part of a 301-lot sale catalogue curated by Canadian businessman Miles Nadal for the auction house’s ‘Dare to Dream’ auction event held recently in Canada.

Said ‘Big Five’ comprised of a 1985 Ferrari 288 GTO, a 1990 Ferrari F40, a 1996 Ferrari F50, a 2003 Ferrari Enzo, as well as a 2015 Ferrari LaFerrari. Each holds a significant place in Ferrari history and lore, and each are highly sought after by collectors through auctions as such due to their rarity.

This 288 GTO was one of just 272 built by Ferrari, and it fetched over RM18 million.

Starting with the 288 GTO, this cancelled racecar turned manic street-legal homologation special is just one of 272 built by the famed Maranello-rooted institution. It packs a 2.9-litre V8 twin-turbo heart rated at 395 HP and 496 NM that allowed 0-100 KM/H dashes despatched in roughly 5 secs.

This particular unit from the Dare to Dream collection, which was previously owned by title-winning golfer Ian Poulter, was sold for US$3,882,500 (approx. RM18,234,161).

The F40, successor to the 288 GTO, was also auctioned off at over RM16 million.

Next in the collection came the 288 GTO’s successor the F40. The last model overseen by founder Enzo Ferrari was built to celebrate the prancing horse marque’s 40th anniversary in 1987. Though not as rare as its predecessor with over 1,300 units built, it is still a highly coveted collector Ferrari.

This 1990 “not-cat, non-adjust” model from the Dare to Dream collection is one pristine example of said late-80s and early-90s icon with incredibly low mileage – 1,606 KM. It also packs a manic 2.9-litre V8 twin-turbo heart rated at 471 HP and 577 NM that enabled 0-100 KM/H dashes in 4.7 secs.

 Perhaps said low mileage status bolstered this F40’s sale price, which closed at US$3,470,000 (approx. RM 16,296,855).

Ferrari switched to atmospheric V12s in its halo models starting with the F50, and this unit fetched just under RM20 million.

Up next came the 1996 model year F50, which comes with an original factory-fitted removable hardtop and accompanying factory-issued flight case for which. Succeeding the F40, the F50’s signature has to be its atmospheric 4.7-litre V12 heart that boasted a red line past 8,000 RPM.

Outputting 512 HP and 471 NM, said F1-derived powerplant granted 0-100 KM/H in roughly 4 secs and a claimed V-max of 325 KM/H. Being just one of 349 units produced, this F50 unit from the collection mentioned fetched a sum of US$4,240,000 (approx. RM19,913,160).

Arguably not the prettiest, but definitely the most potent and 'pure', the Enzo was borne at a time when Ferrari dominated F1. This unit from the Dare to Dream collection fetched over RM20 million.

Moving on and the Enzo was up next, which is one of just 498 examples Ferrari built between 2002 and 2004. Named after its founder, the Enzo was created using advanced tech derived from Ferrari’s F1 title-winning era, and it also packed an atmospheric 6.0-litre V12 powertrain boasting 651 HP.

Originally a US-spec car, this unit from the Dare to Dream collection has clocked just 8,607 KM on its odometer and was previously owned by prominent members of Ferrari VIP circle. It went under the hammer for a steady sum of US$4,295,000 (approx. RM 20,171,468).

One-third of the 'Holy Trinity', the LaFerrari saw an electrifying twist to Ferrari's halo car signature. This 2015 unit sold for just over RM17 million too.

Lastly comes the ‘newest’ of the five, and it is one of only 500 hard-topped or coupe iteration of the LaFerrari special produced between 2013 and 2018. Like the Enzo, the LaFerrari was borne out of the best tech and expertise derived from the world of F1 racing, albeit with an electrifying twist.

Underneath, the LaFerrari pairs a 6.3-litre V12 screamer with F1-derived KERS and e-motor setup, altogether outputting a whopping combined output of 950 HP and 900 NM to see 0-100 KM/H dashes done in just 2.6 secs.

Regarded as one of the ‘Holy Trinity’ of hybrid hypercars next to the rivalling McLaren P1 and Porsche 918 Spyder, this unit from the Dare to Dream collection was sold for a sum of US$3,690,000 (approx. RM 17,330,085).

Other rarities and oddities were present in the collection too. But the 1972 Lamborghini Miura P400SV above took the title as the most expensive car sold from this collection as it fetched over RM23 million.

Whilst neither of this cars charted any record sale figures through their individual sales, they did collectively accumulated a combined total of US19,577,500 (approx. RM 91,945,729) from this recent auction.

The ‘Big Five’ aside, there were other rarities and oddities from the same collection that fetched hefty sums too. Highlights include a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL ‘Gullwing’ coupe, a Fiat 500L used by The Pope on his 2015 New York City visit, as well as a 1972 Lamborghini Miura P400SV that sold for $US4.9 million (approx. RM23.01 million).

Images: RM Sotheby’s