The Only White Ferrari 250 GTO Ever Built Just Sold for $38.5 Million

A 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO — bodied by Scaglietti to a Giotto Bizzarrini design, and the only one of the 36 GTOs built between 1962 and 1964 delivered new in factory white — sold for $38.5 million at Mecum's Kissimmee auction in January, a new company record for Mecum since its founding in 1988. Bidding opened at $50 million, dropped as low as $25 million, and climbed back up to the final $38.5 million with fees included.

"I didn't think I'd be able to buy it, but I decided to play anyway. Sometimes in an auction you can get a good deal. I believe in destiny." — David Lee

The car was originally bought new by British racing team owner John Coombs and carries genuine period competition history, having been driven by Roy Salvadori, Graham Hill, Mike Parkes, and Jack Sears, with podium finishes at both Brands Hatch and Goodwood. It sold to David Lee, a California entrepreneur behind the Hing Wa Lee luxury watch and jewelry group and a well-known Ferrari collector who hosts "Casa Lee" during Monterey Car Week each year; the purchase was brokered by Kevin Cohen of Beverly Hills Motoring.

"I didn't think I'd be able to buy it, but I decided to play anyway," Lee said. "Sometimes in an auction you can get a good deal. I believe in destiny." Of the car's singular color, he was direct: "It will be the only white one." Mecum owner Dana Mecum, for his part, offered the more general lesson of the sale: "High-value cars aren't built on a cookie-cutter formula, because every seller's needs are unique."