Why I Paid $38.5 Million for a Ferrari 250 GTO

This the 250 GTO is not even in the dream category so I didn't think I was going to get the car but I said by chance if somehow some miracle happens that I do get it you know at least I'm in the play if you don't play at all if you're not in the game you're not going to have a chance just like the lotto right if you don't buy a ticket you never win the lotto this is the 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO known as Bianco Speciale first off to have the opportunity to sell a GTO is I mean it's a it's a high watermark when I was contacted to go look at the car Mr. Shirley's ambition was just to sell me the car and I would love to have the car I sat down and I thought and I thought you know this is one car as much as I would like to have the car myself it means more for me to sell it this is this is a high point for our business and we are potentially about to witness history so much history too and you know no matter how long the bidding goes we'll probably never get to every aspect of this car it is prolific and what it has accomplished you know I was talking to Kevin his agent I was telling Kevin 50 million and Kevin was saying oh it's going to be under 40 and I made that I said no Kevin it's going to be 50 so my name is Kevin Cohen my company is Beverly Hills Motoring David has been very close with me and my family for for many many years he was a close friend with my father Andy Cohen who was a car dealer and car collector for many years and they started their car collecting journey together and my dad's no longer here with us but he would be so so proud to see just how the collection has come and to see this 250 GTO in here today so I started collecting investment and rare collectible Ferraris with Kevin's dad Andy Cohen yeah he he was very experienced he was been in the business for a long time and he really taught me and and really guided me as to my collection with Kevin's dad built the first uh big five in red and then with Kevin I built it the second big five in yellow every car and every deal has a story but I gotta say this this was the most exciting yeah I called Kevin it was he was five cars away okay I said all right well let me get to a quiet uh place and uh you know and then of course that's when the drama all came with the with the bidding 33,500,000 is big 34,500,000 34,500,000 I'm talking to David I have it's like a UFC fight I never had this many eyes on me ever and we're just in the zone and the adrenaline's high and we're talking we're strategizing but uh at the end of the day all the call you know all the shots are David's I don't have any authorization to make any but it's a lot of pressure on me because I can't misinterpret I made a joke to David before the auction I said uh if I can't get up because we're worried is the cell service going to work can we what happens if not so I said David don't worry I'll stop at 50 million if my phone disconnects but which would be over my budget but okay 35 35 million dollars 35 four five I've bought some cars before um at auction uh and uh our friend you know David Gooding's auction and being there uh you know especially you know even though I wasn't buying a high value car like this but being there you know people cheer you on they're like yeah you do it and you get emotionally involved you're like yeah I want to you know like I have a whole fan you know base over there right imagine that you're actually got thousands of people say yeah you know maybe you should buy that come on let's go another one and it will influence you no matter what we're holding it's 34 and a half million it's it's actually a good business practice to be absentee on a high dollar item like that we don't like it yeah but it's a good business practice and where it's a good business practice you keep a level of emotion yeah you're right we want you there so we can wrap you get you excited so on and so forth it's a level of control yeah gentleman in the white ball cap next to Dana Mecham is negotiating with somebody on the other end of his cell phone the eyes of the world on this gentleman with the white hat I've done it I tell people this is off this is on this is locked we really didn't know we we understood that if if 35 was bid that the reserve was going to come off um but there's still a room full of people 35 million 500 000 and it is still for sale is somebody coming in at 35 million dollars at the last second in the back of the room hundred thousand dollars and I'm absorbing everything and I have David on the phone as a hey what's going on did we get it and and we're waiting for the countdown last call 35 million 500 000 and it is I was alone in this uh quiet room uh you know out in Willis Spring area and and and when when that all came down and when Kevin says I said Kevin was the room patented yeah right yeah because I was bouncing around for sure um but I said I said Kevin you know did we really get it it worked wow he goes you really got it really got oh my gosh man I I it just you know that feeling you know it's just unreal you know you just I seldom have that feeling uh in my life I've had it once before when Rolex told me that we want you to be the authorized dealer yes we're going to give you the authorized dealer this was 31 years ago yeah and and and because I knew that having that authorized is going to change my life it's going to change my business and change everything uh and and so I remember that that was the same feeling I had when Rolex told me I was I can be their authorized dealer 31 years ago and that and that day when when I felt uh when I was told that I I won the bid to get to buy this 250 GTO the special white one that was the same feeling that I got uh I was at our motorcycle auction in Las Vegas and they said well we're delivering the GTO on Monday and I thought I never thought about it but I need to go and you know it's it's we sell thousands of cars every year uh but this is really special yeah and that David David stepped up and and so I thought I you know I'm gonna go meet this guy and hand off the key don't say that don't say that the original steering wheel is on the car yeah yeah when I first went met Mr. Shirley uh he had a pinky yeah yeah so the original wheel was off the car because he didn't want to scratch it up right right but you guys put it on after it was the okay uh that motor that's in the crate uh is the motor that he drove the car and raced the car with oh okay uh the motor that's in the car yeah it's a Ferrari classic yeah the motor in the crate is probably a better performing driver it's hopped up yeah exactly yeah it's hopped up for racing what was so special about this car to me is the color uh because the majority of the cars are red and you know the idea of collecting is you want your car to stand out you want to be individualized the other thing that's important to me about this car is it's been maintained it's been repaired it's been refinished but it's never been restored they think of a car's been painted or something it's not original anymore that's not true a car's original as long as it hasn't been totally taken apart and restored to me as a car guy it tells me it's been taken care of that word maintained it's been taken care of it's a race car that's been taken care of oh okay oh he don't fit i gotta take him home there you go looking good yeah man it sounds so good fast setting still babe and in car collecting uh even at this level and value usability is meaningful you can use the car david has a wonderful entrance to his business with a formula car setting there but you can't really use that car on it the gto is just iconic even in the world of ferraris you know the only other ferrari close to it's a testarossa uh but you'd have a hard time taking the testarossa around the block like that man what a what a what a great feeling what a wonderful feeling wow you have to take it out yeah yeah for sure for sure your son yeah to get a hold of my son okay okay the day ever comes yeah for sale okay okay okay most of us will be gone yeah yeah yeah exactly exactly listen it yes it's a valuable car but uh you know that's not gonna stop what i plan to do with it which is show it at you know concourses show it at car meets uh make content show people hey this is how how great it is you know but i'm not scared to drive out you know some some guy's gonna have a car meet and suddenly 250 gto's gonna pull up things you know you're not gonna believe it you know but i'm gonna do that you know that because that's what i do golly yeah it's one of my best sales every time he drives that i'm gonna get clicks exactly we're gonna tag him we're gonna tag dana for sure we spoke about this a little bit outside but this is a life achievement for all of us uh i mean it's a life achievement for you collecting it's it's a life achievement for us at our auction business and it's a life achievement for kevin helping bring a deal like this together yes actually i've never won a car at an auction as a buyer on behalf of david but i've never won a car auction ever i've never won a car at an auction so so this is this is oh my gosh this is a big one for you to win it's pretty cool oh my goodness we've seen nothing like this ever in megan history it's the kind of deal i like it's win-win yeah when a deal is win-win there's nothing better exactly the seller of the car mr shirley was happy and you know so everybody everybody in this is happy yes yeah that's the best so that's a good thing yeah it's it's the largest dollar sale in our history uh now my goal now is i've sold one now i've got a source one for myself