The legendary Ferrari 250 GTO, built between 1962 and 1964, widely considered both the greatest and most beautiful car ever made, is also now the priciest after an unknown buyer from England bought it at a private auction for a whopping 20 million euros, which equates to more than $28.78 million stateside. The previous record was just set in May by another Ferrari (see our previous blog about the 1961 california Spyder), but at around two-thirds less. The GTO has a three-litre V12, 302 prancing horses, and cab whip at 185 miles an hour. When new, the GTO cost $18,800, and buyers had to personally approved by Enzo Ferrari and his dealer in North America, Luigi Chinetti. In terms of historical collectability, From the late 1970s to the late 1980s, classic car values rose rapidly and the 250 GTO, touted as the Ferrari that most successfully embodies the salient traits of the marque, became the most valuable of all Ferraris. According to an anonymously authored article in Times Online, a 250 GTO seized by the FBI from a convicted drug dealer was sold in a sealed auction in 1988 for approximately $2 million. In 1989, at the peak of the boom, a 250 GTO was sold to a Japanese buyer for $13.3 million plus commission. By 1991 the market had cooled to the extent that a GTO sold at a Las Vegas auction for $5.5 million, and in 1994 the example that had brought $13.3 million five years earlier changed hands for about $3.5 million. In 2008 an anonymous English buyer bought a 250 GTO at auction for a record £15.7 million. Scarcity and high monetary values led to the creation of several replica 250 GTOs on more common Ferrari chassis. Misrepresentations of the original cars, offered for sale at full market value, have been reported. When Lord Brocket was convicted of insurance fraud in 1996 it came to light that he had passed off his replica as a genuine example, although he had not sold it. However the values of legitimate high-demand Ferrari models have continued to rise.

Via Top Gear