PEBBLE BEACH, California — The 2008 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance on August 17 will mark the 50th birthday of the Ferrari 250 GT Spyder California, hosting six different variations of the race-inspired convertible, including the 1957 prototype.
Among the cars slated to appear at the concours are the closed-headlight, alloy-bodied, short-wheelbase Spyder California that raced at Le Mans and Sebring, and the only Ferrari 400 Superamerica built by the factory with Spyder California coachwork.
Beginning in 1958, Ferrari and its coachbuilder Scaglietti hand-built only 105 Spyder Californias, in long- and short-wheelbase variants with differing headlight treatments, as well as a handful of competition versions.
Another classic Cal Spyder — a 1959 model that originally was ordered from the factory by Vittorio Emanuele de Savoia, the last prince of Italy — will go on the block in the annual Gooding & Company auction August 16-17 at Pebble Beach. Expect it to fetch a pretty penny, as a recent California Spyder set the auction record for most money ever paid for a vintage car: more than $10.8 million.
The car won Best in Class at the 1991 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance and earned the Classic Platinum Award at the 1999 Cavallino Classic. The California Spyder served as the inspiration for Ferrari's newest model, the upcoming retractable-hardtop front-engined V8 Ferrari California.
What this means to you: Ferrari and California: a classic combination. — Paul Lienert, Correspondent
Among the cars slated to appear at the concours are the closed-headlight, alloy-bodied, short-wheelbase Spyder California that raced at Le Mans and Sebring, and the only Ferrari 400 Superamerica built by the factory with Spyder California coachwork.
Beginning in 1958, Ferrari and its coachbuilder Scaglietti hand-built only 105 Spyder Californias, in long- and short-wheelbase variants with differing headlight treatments, as well as a handful of competition versions.
Another classic Cal Spyder — a 1959 model that originally was ordered from the factory by Vittorio Emanuele de Savoia, the last prince of Italy — will go on the block in the annual Gooding & Company auction August 16-17 at Pebble Beach. Expect it to fetch a pretty penny, as a recent California Spyder set the auction record for most money ever paid for a vintage car: more than $10.8 million.
The car won Best in Class at the 1991 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance and earned the Classic Platinum Award at the 1999 Cavallino Classic. The California Spyder served as the inspiration for Ferrari's newest model, the upcoming retractable-hardtop front-engined V8 Ferrari California.
What this means to you: Ferrari and California: a classic combination. — Paul Lienert, Correspondent
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