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Meet the man who sold his Ferrari 250 GTO for a record $48 million

We all took notice back in August when a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO sold at RM Sotheby's in Monterey, bringing a record price for a car at auction: $48.4 million. The man who benefited — both from the proceeds and from his 18 years owning one of the rarest, most desirable cars in the world, chatted recently with Seattle Times columnist Nicole Brodeur about what it was like to say goodbye to such a beautiful machine — and how he's able to console himself with a serious collection of other fine cars. Despite the car, the third of 36, being "one of the most significant Ferraris ever built, bar none," in Sotheby's words, Brodeur says Whitten regularly toodled around in it in Redmond, Wash. — to lunch, on errands, to car shows — Redmond being a place where you do see an awful lot of incredible daily drivers streaming into the Microsoft campus. Whitten, now chairman of Numerix, a financial software company, was one of Microsoft's earliest employees, hired in 1979 by the late Paul Allen himself. He describes what it was like to be sitting on the front row at Monterey when the gavel came down. Even for a multimillionaire, multimillions being thrown around by three bidders for a single car is "very hard to fathom," he told CNBC. "But you're in a space where you have car collectors, and Ferraris are the most collectible car, and the GTO is the pinnacle Ferrari." "I miss it a little bit," Whitten says. But the world is full of wonderful cars, and an awful lot of them are tucked away in his warehouse. Plus, Whitten spent more than $2 million on the same night the GTO sold, picking up another Ferrari and three vintage Jaguars, including a 1967 E-Type as a birthday present for his wife, Michelle. In the column, he reflects on his beginnings as a driver — as an 11-year-old wheelman helping his brother deliver newspapers in their parents' station wagon. And on being a broke mathematics doctorate whose first car was a Dodge Dart. And on the beginnings of his collection when the Microsoft millions kicked in; on purchasing a 1935 ERA 1.5L Grand Prix racer from a Thai princess; and that time he hit 174 mph on an airport runway. Here's the column, if you'd like to learn more about a guy who sounds like he's had a pretty great life. And below are two videos put out by Sotheby's ahead of the auction. In the first, Whitten drives the Ferrari, talks about his love of cars — and you get a glimpse of his collection. The second video describes the car's considerable provenance.

Liberty Walk stretches the notion of Ferrari's 360 and F430

Japan's Liberty Walk is the sort of outfit that will stop at nothing to turn heads, and this summer it's introducing wide body kits for the Ferrari 360 and F430 models. The bolt-on parts for the Ferraris are designed to divert opinions as much as provide aerodynamic gains. That big wing has to be good for something, you know. The body kits are priced the same in Japan; roughly $18,000 for the fiberglass kit with front, rear, and side parts, $22,000 for a carbon-fiber version, and $26,500 for the carbon kit with the big carbon wing. All of the parts can be bought separately, and an air suspension kit manufactured by the American company AirREX is available for $8,000. In case you have a tired old 360 Modena hanging around in severe need of upgrades, a Liberty Walk body kit might just be the thing to spruce it up. Related Video:

Jay Leno gets five of Ferrari's greatest hits together for an epic track day

America's favorite car guy, Jay Leno, isn't a huge fan of Ferrari. But even he can't stop from gushing over five of Ferrari's greatest cars. Thanks to David Lee, a Ferrari collector and watch dealer, Leno got to drive a Ferrari LaFerrari around a track with the Enzo, F50, F40, and 288 GTO close behind. The short five-minute clip has Leno driving conservatively behind the wheel of the LaFerrari and cautiously enjoying the supercar's 950-horsepower hybrid powertrain. Lee brings up the rear of the Ferrari train in his 288 GTO, while his brothers took the other three Italian supercars onto the track for a leisurely drive. Lee, who is an avid Ferrari collector that brought Leno his 1967 275 GTB4 to drive earlier this year, drives these Ferraris regularly and is extremely passionate about the brand. Despite not being one of Ferrari's biggest fans, Leno has nothing but good things to say about the LaFerrari. The five Ferraris are some of the most sought-after vehicles of all time, and for good reason. The supercars represent the best that Ferrari could do at each of those moments in time. Though it looks like Leno and Lee are going painstakingly slow, they're surrounded by an estimated value of $12 million worth of Italian metal. With a new season of Jay Leno's Garage set to premiere tomorrow at 10 p.m. Eastern Time on CNBC, we're expecting more more footage from this Ferrari fest. Related Video: News Source: Jay Leno's GarageImage Credit: Jay Leno's Garage / YouTube Celebrities Ferrari Coupe Hybrid Lightweight Vehicles Racing Vehicles Performance Supercars Classics Videos Jay Lenos Garage ferrari laferrari ferrari f40