After taking over from the ever popular Terry Wogan, Chris Evans increased the weekly listeners to over 9.5 million, the largest radio audience in the UK on his BBC Radio 2 morning slot, beating Wogan by nearly 2 million. He must have figured the best way to celebrate was to buy a vintage 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO for an astounding 12 million. The Ginger haired Radio mogul has a large garage of classic and modern Ferraris, with his splurge more than doubling the 5 million he spent on a 250 GT SWB California Spyder last year.
The 250 GTO is extremely rare and considered the ‘holy grail’ by collectors and classic car experts. Editor of ‘Classic Cars Magazine’, Phil Bell, said he was not surprised at the price Evans paid for the Ferrari. Only 36 of the 250 GTOs were ever made and only three in this body style, they were worth 6,000 when new in 1963.
Evan’s car is capable of accelerating from 0-60 mph in 6.1 seconds and has a top speed of 174 mph. The car was so highly prized by Enzo Ferrari, who founded the firm, that he personally approved each buyer. It was raced a lot when it was new, especially in Italy and came second in a Spa 500km race in 1964, a piece of history that makes it more valuable. It was then bought by ex-racing driver David Piper who raced it himself before being sold to a collector in Japan.
Classic cars are becoming more and more collectable as their value has been increasing for some years and has seen a huge boost since 2000; however it is often difficult to value the rarest cars as they tend to change hands behind closed doors.
Despite Evans’ Ferrari being Britain’s most expensive car, it is not the most expensive in the world, that title goes to an even rarer Bugatti Type 57S Atlantic which changed hands for 30 million between to private individuals. Some of the most expensive cars sold in recent times include a Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa which sold for 8m in Italy last May, a Shelby Daytona Cobra coupe which was bought for 4.4m last August and a 1937 Mercedes Benz 540K Special Roadster which was sold three years ago for 3.9m.