Is 1961 Ferrari 250 GTE in need of full resto worth £60,000?

[JazzyO]

Justayellowbadge said:

This sold for 17k this weekend.

I thought a top car was around 85k? 60k seems like fantasy.

AndrewW-G said:

A good 250 GTE / 330 America is ~ £150k

Justayellowbadge said:

Your numbers make this look cheap

The confusion lies with the word "good".

Until you've actually been shopping for a vintage Ferrari, I think you underestimate how bad most of them are. Certainly I did when I was looking for my 330GTC. You see these cars on the internet in quote-unquote "concours condition", but frankly most are crap. Good from far but far from good.

Buying a car that has been poorly resprayed or had GBP10k spent when it should have had 50k spent is a sure-fire way of getting your head done in. Most cars that I see out there have asking prices of 80 - 85% of a really good car, but need 60 - 100k spent to get it up to 100%. In that case you are much better off buying a basket case and doing a complete restoration, it will be cheaper.

And before you say "but I want a driver, I don't want a Pebble Beach car" - the fact is that very good mechanical cars with not-so-shiny exterior/interior are like hens' teeth. Almost always, good cosmetics go together with good mechanicals due to the money involved.

For my 330GTC, I paid 25% more than the most expensive I could find on the internet at the time. In the past 3 years I've found out what a good decision I made. All the experts I've spoken to agree on the quality of my car, and that the price I paid was fair, but not cheap, for its condition. Because there are so few good ones, the owners of those know what they have and will not let it go easily.

So, Justayellowbadge, all I am saying is that if I had a top example of a 250GTE, there is no way that anyone could buy it for 85k. Andrew's number is much closer to the mark.


Onno

[AndrewW-G]

And dont forget the cost of replacing the toolkit if it's not there . . . . . when advising new owners and I've just told them what it costs to replace, even with a repro set, the phrase "how fking much" is often the used

[kz1]

It sold for over 100k!

[AndrewW-G]

kz1 said:

It sold for over 100k!

Hopefully that will mean it will be restored / repaired and wont be turned into a fake GTO/SWB/CAL

[slf2012]

I heard on the radio this morning that it may have been bought by Chris Evans. Unlikely to get re-invented as something else then?

[kz1]

Maybe he is planning to collect every 250 model.... he already has the 250 GTO, so the rest should come easy!

[JazzyO]

slf2012 said:

I heard on the radio this morning that it may have been bought by Chris Evans. Unlikely to get re-invented as something else then?

Well, it may be turned into white with blue interior.... Having seen his previous restorations I think a sympathetic restoration preserving some patina is not likely.


Onno

[ferrisbueller]

Did a little search based on something in another thread.

It lives!

https://drive-my.com/en/blogs/entry/epic-restorati...

[456mgt]

ferrisbueller said:

https://drive-my.com/en/blogs/entry/epic-restorati...

That was lovely! So good that they restored it as a GTE and didn't just rip out the mechanicals for a rebody. Takes a big emotional commitment to do a full resto, it's not just the cash.

[ferrisbueller]

456mgt said:

ferrisbueller said:

https://drive-my.com/en/blogs/entry/epic-restorati...

That was lovely! So good that they restored it as a GTE and didn't just rip out the mechanicals for a rebody. Takes a big emotional commitment to do a full resto, it's not just the cash.

Same. Beautiful and relatively unknown. Glad they saved it and did such a lovely job.

[456mgt]

ferrisbueller said:

Same. Beautiful and relatively unknown. Glad they saved it and did such a lovely job.

Indeed, thank you for posting it! You only realise how many of these have been chopped up or perished when you look for one. Took bloody months to find a good one, and even then it was pure accident.

[ferrisbueller]

Mein Gott! I hadn't appreciated you have one. And the rest of your collection is equally outrageous!

[V12GT]

Looks a great restoration. Is it now this one for sale?

https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...

Maybe not as your was silver and this one red. Both have the same colour now.

[BelfastBoy]

0a said:

What a lovely looking car in its own right. It seems a shame to restore it to 'as new' condition or convert it to something it's not.

This x infinity! The GTE is a very handsome car in its own right, and should be admired and appreciated as a distinctive model. Frankenstein-ing one into a GTO lookalike is an appalling waste of such a lovely vehicle. Like all replicas, I suppose it really comes down to how shameless the owner is, because while you'll be able to fool quite a few people, you'll always get caught out one way or another. More importantly, you'll always know yourself that it's not a real GTO.

[MDL111]

I am probably in the minority, but I'd happily own a GTO replica based on another period Ferrari - I saw one at a Ferrari track day last year and replica or not, it was quite amazing to see it out on track (the guy actually overtook me going into a corner, which I found even better...).