1957 250 Testarossa - most beautiful car ever?

[benjh1028]

Jalopnik - 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa: Vintage Ferrari Expected To Break World Auction Record - Most Expensive Auction Car

1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa fetches world record $12.1 million at auction

What a stunning vehicle with the pontoon fenders. Either the 250 Testarossa or a 1954 - 57 Jaguar D-type are in my opinion the most beautiful cars to ever grace the roads. Anyone have a spare $12 million they want to give me?

Ben

[veloce_va]

Has to be in the top-10 of the most beautiful ever...incredible.

Here is the video of the actual sale of the Testa Rossa for $12,402,500...fun to watch someone else spend that much dough.

Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa World Record Auction Video

[Flash G]

[fitfan]

^^ without a doubt - that black one is the coolest TR i have had the pleasure to see. i first i though -ewww black, but that only lasted like 30 seconds...

[andykeck]

Here's a local one, before and after restoration:

[the1sen]

extremely beautiful car -

but I saw one of these in person today... and quite frankly, it is DROP DEAD GORGEOUS.

[knucklehead]

Originally Posted by the1sen

extremely beautiful car -

but I saw one of these in person today... and quite frankly, it is DROP DEAD GORGEOUS.

I broke one of those. Many years ago I went to a party and the next door neighbor was telling me about his car. He insisted that I take it for a spin. I didn't want to do it, but as I said he insisted. After a couple of blocks we decided to turn around. I reached to shift the turn signal and it snaps off in my hand. One of my worst car experiences ever.

[lotusman1951]

I had an Uncle Hank, Dr. Henry Kelley creator of the Zoom Principal for the Chuck Yeager years , How fast can you go. Its all math. Down at this angle.

Sold alot of cars in Road and Track and Hemmings in the 70s, Perhaps 40 cars mostly brought over from the UK-but who could resit buying all 3 Lotus Cortinas and a series 1 and series 2 26Rs--Anyhow-returning home by cab one evening the driver upon seeing a 250 2+2 in the drive mentioned to Hank that He had a simular car.

Hank saw it the next day-the guy wanted 7 grand-Hank gave him 8,

The car was a 1957 TR with the 4 banger dohc, twin distributors, In our garage. A little "more" than the MG L2 magna, or the Allard Palm Beach-or the other specials.

Drove it once before Hank sold it I was 22 and Hank sold it for 25K.

All true-Hank taught me up on exotics.

Kevin Kearney, Aboard JOLIE Northport NY

[maz]

in a word, no.

[mikeyd]

...ermmm I think it's ugly. Not being contrary just for the sake of it... I think it's genuinely ugly. The fact that enough people believe it to be worth such an enormous amount of money makes it almost obscene in my eyes.
There's a Ferrari 250 California in the Ferrari dealership near my house that costs 6 million and I just don't get it.
How much should something like that be worth? who knows? From the same era and built for exactly the same purpose is this equally ugly but less obscene Jag.:

which was better engineered, better constructed, faster and is still racing regularly (and is for sale for approx $70k).
Wanting to tie up $12m in something that was thrown together by a couple of average Ferrari engineers in a few months is insanity to my mind - The world has gone nuts.

[Charlie Lunsford]

I have to agree that it is in the top 10 on my list of the most beautiful cars, however, I would say that the MOST beautiful car in my opinion would have to hands down be the Lamborghini Miura SV!

[Chris D.]

I don't know. That's like pointing to one woman and saying she is the most beautiful woman in the world. Tastes vary greatly and mine even change from day to day.

[ErictheBastard]

Originally Posted by mikeyd

...ermmm I think it's ugly. Not being contrary just for the sake of it... I think it's genuinely ugly. The fact that enough people believe it to be worth such an enormous amount of money makes it almost obscene in my eyes.
There's a Ferrari 250 California in the Ferrari dealership near my house that costs 6 million and I just don't get it.
How much should something like that be worth? who knows? From the same era and built for exactly the same purpose is this equally ugly but less obscene Jag.:

which was better engineered, better constructed, faster and is still racing regularly (and is for sale for approx $70k).
Wanting to tie up $12m in something that was thrown together by a couple of average Ferrari engineers in a few months is insanity to my mind - The world has gone nuts.

That is not a real Jag, but a special built by privateer Tojeiro, a similar effort to the more ubiquitous Lister-Jaguars. Not better engineered than a D-type Jaguar which was nothing short of revolutionary. A proper D-type is beautiful to behold (especially the long-nose variations such as the works car driven by Mike Hawthorne to a win at LeMans in '55) and will certainly fetch $2 million, more with proper provenance. Respectable replicas are almost indistinguishable from the real ones and have proper period Jaguar running gear and can be had for under $120k. That Tojeiro is a bargain.

I'd bid up to $6million (if I had it) on a 250TR or Maserati 450S, less on an Aston martin DBR1. These are exceptionally rare cars of profound historic significance. The real crime is $12m for a 250GT California Spyder. That was purely the result of two immeasurable egos in a bidding war. In 5 years that car will turn for less than a million.

Some more nice pics of the Ferrari 250TR here: Adventures With E - Laguna Seca

[spacepig]

Not even in the top 50. Painting it black hides that awful straightline transition 12" behind the grill that you can see on the red one. Weird scoops, too high off the ground. Poor detailing, and some clunky surface development, especially around the nose. The black one was shot by a very skilled photographer and hides a lot of these issues.

[mikeyd]

Originally Posted by ErictheBastard

That is not a real Jag, but a special built by privateer Tojeiro, a similar effort to the more ubiquitous Lister-Jaguars.

The Man knows his cars pic was an original Tojeiro from '56?

Fact remains though that the $12m 250 TR is an fugly Ferrari version (two years too late) of the Jaguar D type '55 (pic. below).
Apart from having a slightly different face they could be the same car and I've seen the engineering on early Ferraris (knuckles touching windscreen anybody)?
I just don't get the cult of Ferrari and their insane sale prices - dot.com bubble all over again?

[swaq]

I've never been a big fan of the 250 TR. I much prefer the 250 GTO, 250 LM, and 275 GTB.

[fitfan]

Originally Posted by mikeyd

The Man knows his cars pic was an original Tojeiro from '56?

Fact remains though that the $12m 250 TR is an fugly Ferrari version (two years too late) of the Jaguar D type '55 (pic. below).
Apart from having a slightly different face they could be the same car and I've seen the engineering on early Ferraris (knuckles touching windscreen anybody)?
I just don't get the cult of Ferrari and their insane sale prices - dot.com bubble all over again?

..well, at that point your really buying history, not a car!

[SteveLevin]

I have to say, I put the TR at the top of the list. Everything about it is just...wonderful.

Steve

[Agent ONE]

Cool car, interesting design for its time, but not attractive to me.

[andykeck]

Here's a third picture of the same TR as I posted above, but with a bonus peek at the engine. Jon had it out at the local vintage races and was tearing it up in a field of about 20 cars in his class. Bold, bold move.