Clapped-out classic Ferrari that’s been garaged for 40 years sells for over £80k

A forgotten Ferrari that has spent its last 40 years in a garage and fallen into a fairly sorry state sold at auction this weekend for more than £80,000.

The rare 1964 Ferrari 330 GT 2+2 Series 1 is one of only 36 right hand drive models ever built for the UK market and one of just 20 believed to still be in existence today. 

However, it isn’t in the greatest condition, having been placed into storage in the eighties as part of a restoration project that wasn’t completed.

The hammer price paid by the winning bidder on Saturday was £73,000 – though with auction fees on top, will amount to £81,760. Yet it could be worth far more than that when fully restored.

The right-hand-drive model is one of the earliest produced, with the Maranello car maker building the 330 GT 2+2 for just five years between 1964 and 1968. 

What makes it particularly enticing for collectors is that so few remain in existence today, which is due to many of these cars being pulled apart to build replicas of more expensive models produced by the famous Italian manufacturer.

Such is its rarity that, even in the clapped-out condition shown in the images, experts predicted a bidding frenzy for when the car went to the block on Saturday afternoon. 

And they were correct, with the winning bid at the auction in Frome, Somerset, over the higher estimate range of £60,000 to £70,000.

Yet it could be worth far more than that if the new owner puts in the funds, time and effort to restore it. 

Classic car insurance specialists, Hagerty, values a ‘fair’ condition example of this car at £140,000, making the sale price a relative steal.

If restored to ‘excellent’ condition, it could be worth around £182,000, though renovated and brought back to its factory best specification – which Hagerty calls ‘concours’, meaning good enough for a museum display – the top end value for these cars is a whopping £231,000, which is around three times what the winning bidder paid.

Corroded wheels, deflated tyres and faded chrome complete the battered external look, while inside the steering wheel is taped up, the red leather seats cracked and the wooden dashboard seeing far better days

An issue with the brakes in the eighties saw the Ferrari put into storage in the vendor’s garage with the intention of it being repaired and restored for the road. Thought that never happened

Experts had placed an estimate of £60,000 to £70,000 on the car. The hammer price on Saturday was £73,000, though with auction fees on top takes the winning amount to over £81,000

That said, it is going to cost the new owner a fair whack to bring it back up to scratch, with the bodywork certainly seeing better days, with the doors and boot lid appearing to be replacement parts.

Corroded wheels, deflated tyres and faded chrome complete the battered external look, while inside the steering wheel is taped up, the red leather seats cracked and the wooden dashboard faded. 

The car was last bought in 1971 by the vendor Peter Marshal for £1,750. He said he had picked it up ‘on a whim’ because he thought it was a ‘fabulous looker’.

But owing to problems with the brakes he put it in the garage of his Somerset home some years later.

The tax disc still on display in the windscreen shows it running out at the end of September 1988, so it most definitely hasn’t been on the road for 34 years at least.  

Despite its dilapidated condition, the Ferrari was expected to draw a bidding frenzy. That’s because very few were built – around 36 – and even fewer remain today. Experts believe only 20 right-hand-drive versions are still going strong

The dilapidated Ferrari was bought for the vendor, Peter Marshal, for £1,750 in 1971. He said he picked it up ‘on a whim’ because he thought it was a ‘fabulous looker’

According to auctioneers Dore & Rees, the car has clocked less than 43,000 miles in its lifetime, which works out at an average of just 740 miles each year since it left the Italian factory. Though it certainly looks to have had a harder life than that

The car was recently unearthed by valuers who were visiting Mr Marshal’s home, finding the rare motor in his garage and explained its potential market price, even in its current state of disrepair.

Some 51 years after buying the red Ferrari, Mr Marshal was convinced that now is the right time to part with his much-neglected motor.

The dust-coated car features most of its original components, including the factory-fitted four-litre V12 engine, which – when new – put out a claimed 295bhp. 

That was good enough for a reported top speed of 152mph. Not bad for a four-seat coupe in the sixties.

According to the auction house, Dore & Rees, it has clocked just 43,000 miles in its lifetime, which works out at an average of just 740 miles each year since it left the Italian factory. Though on the face of it looks to have had a much harder life than its mere mileage might suggest.

Classic car insurance specialists, Hagerty, values a ‘fair’ condition example of this car at £140,000, making the winning bid in excess of £80,000 seem like a steal

If restored to ‘excellent’ condition, the sixties four-seat coupe could be worth around £182,000. And renovated and brought back to its factory best specification, the top end value for these cars is a whopping £231,000

The dust-coated car features most of its original components, including the factory-fitted four-litre V12 engine, which – when new – put out around a claimed 295bhp. That was good enough for a reported top speed of 152mph

The tax disc still on display in the windscreen shows it running out at the end of September 1988, so it most definitely hasn’t been on the road for 34 years at least.

Nick Wells, specialist at Dore and Rees, said ahead of the auction that the sale offered a ‘rare opportunity’ for collectors to restore a classic Ferrari. 

He said: ‘Only around 40 right hand drive GT Series 1s were imported to the UK to begin with – these were expensive cars which not many people could afford.

‘In the 1980s and ’90s a lot of them were broken up to make replicas of more expensive cars.

‘As a result very few have survived. This one could easily have been scrapped or re-bodied into something else.

‘The chances of buying an unrestored Ferrari from this era are very rare. This is an opportunity to buy one on the open market – an event which is very seldom.

‘It’s the first time this car has been seen publicly since it went into storage. It was shoved into the garage and never made its way back out.

‘To prepare for the sale, an engineer was brought in to wake the slumbering V12 engine. After careful preparation, and some work to the carburettors and fuelling, the engine was turned over and instantly burst into life.’