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Ferrari 400 Superamerica fetches record $7.6 million at auction

RM Auctions and its new partners at Sotheby's are no strangers to setting records at classic car auctions – especially when it comes to Ferraris. And now they've set another with the sale of this gorgeous 1962 Ferrari 400 Superamerica SWB Cabriolet. Sold as part of the father-and-son Paul & Chris Andrews Collection last weekend, chassis number 3309 SA fetched a whopping $7,645,000. That's a fair bit more than the similar, green over red, open-headlight example which the same auction house sold just a couple of months ago for $6.38 million, and far outstrips the $4,070,000 paid earlier this year at Gooding & Co.'s Scottsdale auction for a white Aerodinamico coupe. A 1963 Ferrari 400 Superamerica LWB Coupe Aerodinamico also sold for $2.86 million at the Andrews Collection sale. Succeeding the earlier 410 Superamerica, the 400 Superamerica was the Bugatti Veyron of its day: extremely expensive, exceedingly rare, and incredibly fast. Only 47 examples were made, seven of which were bodied by Pininfarina, and this was the last of them: a convertible with removable hard top and covered headlights. This was the show car which Ferrari exhibited at both the Geneva and New York auto shows upon its completion, originally in red over tan, before its first owner took it to the Bonneville Salt Flats. It subsequently bounced between a few owners over the following decades, undergoing restorations along the way and picking up numerous awards. It most recently served as the centerpiece of the Paul and Chris Andrews Collection in Fort Worth, TX, which RM Sotheby's liquidated over the weekend. The Superamerica was, of course, the top lot sold, but far from the only one: the auction featured another 15 seven-figure lots, including Packards, Duesenbergs, and more. All told, the event brought in a massive $53,887,585, setting a new record for a private automobile collection auction after every one of the lots sold.

Listen to the Ferrari 488 GTB for the first time

We've received the initial information, seen it on the floor of the Geneva Motor Show and even played around with the online configurator. The one thing we haven't seen (or heard) just yet is the new Ferrari 488 GTB actually firing up. (Well, that and driving the thing, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.) Fortunately some paparazzi with a video camera have caught the new mid-engined, eight-cylinder Ferrari undergoing testing – still under wraps despite having already been unveiled – in Maranello, entering and exiting the factory. And in case you were worried that the twin turbochargers would muffle the exhaust note, it seems the boys in red have invested some time making sure that wouldn't be an issue. Not only that, but we appear to have here our first glimpse at the convertible version, expected (in accordance with traditional Ferrari nomenclature) to be dubbed the 488 GTS – that S standing for Spider instead of the B for Berlinetta. Expect a similar folding hardtop mechanism to that found on the outgoing 458 Spider. Then again, the last time the GTB handle was used on this line was with the F355, where the GTB was the coupe, GTS was the partial convertible with the removable roof panel, and the full convertible was called the F355 Spider. (The more recent, twelve-cylinder 599 GTB Fiorano only led to the limited-edition 599 SA Aperta, as Ferrari doesn't typically offer twelve-cylinder roadsters in "regular" production.)

Ferrari California replica from Ferris Bueller is so choice

We like car auctions well enough, but often the high-end affairs are a bit too much like outdoor museums - very beautiful and very cold, and you're not allowed to touch anything. A perfect case in point is the upcoming Mecum auction during the 2013 Pebble Beach weekend, which will feature the legendary replica Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder used in none other than Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Only three were made. The current owner spent ten years restoring this car. It is his love, it is his passion. (Well, it was before he decided to auction it, anyway.)
Actually built by Modena Design and Development in El Cajon, CA, the official name of the stunning replica is Modena Spyder California. Built up on a tube frame, with a meticulously maintained interior and powered by a 500-horsepower small block V8 the car is so choice. If you have the means, we highly recommend picking one up.
Mecum hasn't suggested a predicted auction price for the Hollywood relic as of yet, but with the perfect pedigree to pull Gen X heartstrings, and the proliferation of stupid-wealthy fourtysomethings in and around northern California, we wouldn't be surprised to see a decent value. Just don't wait on it, life moves pretty fast around Pebble Beach. If you'd like to read a full description of the car with fewer script-quotes, look, it's real simple, scroll down.