E
arlier this month, at an auction in Monterey, California, the hammer dropped on what became the highest-priced new Ferrari sold at auction. An astonishing $26 million (or just under £20 million) was paid for a Daytona SP3. It was the American billionaire and philanthropist Herbert “Herbie” Wetheim, known for his ever-present red fedora, who secured the highest bid.
The Daytona SP3 is already considered a special car. When production began in 2022 just 599 of the Daytona SP3 Icona series cars were built and all were allocated to Ferrari’s most loyal customers. The vehicle’s price at launch was $2.25 million. The name nods to Ferrari’s celebrated past in sports prototype racing and, in particular, its famed 1st, 2nd and 3rd clean sweep of the 1967 24 Hours of Daytona.
The Daytona SP3 is finished in half Giallo Modena and half exposed carbon fibre
This particular car is even more special. Crafted as a one-off in Ferrari’s Tailor Made customisation department specifically to be auctioned, it bears a unique designation. Its serial number becomes 599 + 1 … or car number 600 to us normal folk. Yet those who missed out on the initial run of 599 cars, briefly getting their hopes up that they might have an opportunity to bag one after all, will have had their dreams crushed as the auction price soared to over ten times the original SP3 list price.
