The highly sought-after 1962 Ferrari 330 LM / 250 GTO by Scaglietti set a new milestone by selling for $51.7 million at the RM Sotheby’s auction held on November 13 in New York City.

This transaction not only established the record for the most expensive Ferrari ever sold at auction but also marked the priciest publicly auctioned classic car worldwide in the current year.

Previously owned by Jim Jaeger, a renowned collector in Ohio and co-founder of the company that later produced Escort radars, the car had been in his possession for nearly four decades before being put up for sale.

While the spokesperson from RM Sotheby’s didn't disclose the identity of the new owner, the final hammer price amounted to $47 million. With a buyer’s premium of 10%, the total price reached an impressive $51.7 million.

Despite setting a record, the final sale price fell slightly below earlier expectations, as RM Sotheby’s had initially valued the vehicle at "in excess" of $60 million in the days leading up to the auction.

“Its place in history is undisputed,” Oliver Barker, chairman of Sotheby's Europe, said at the beginning of the sale.

In a brisk auction that spanned less than 20 minutes, the 1962 Ferrari 330 LM / 250 GTO by Scaglietti, which commenced bidding at $34 million, saw consistent engagement from primarily phone bidders. The bidding intensity persisted until the final moments when two bidders engaged in a back-and-forth around the $47 million mark. Notably, both the car and the triumphant bidder were physically present at the auction, as confirmed by a spokesperson.

Securing its place as the most expensive car sold this year, the V-12 racer surpassed the previous record set by a 1967 Ferrari 412P Berlinetta, which sold for $30.2 million on August 17. This year has been notably successful for Ferraris, widely considered blue-chip assets in the automotive world.

According to data compiled by Classic.com, a platform specializing in collectible cars and their values, 12 out of the top 15 cars sold at auction in 2023 featured the iconic prancing pony badge.

“That part of the market has not changed one bit,” says Juan Diego Calle, the founder and CEO of Classic.com.

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Painted scarlet and bearing a No. 7 racing livery, the car is special because it is the only Ferrari GTO example originally equipped with a 4-liter engine and the only factory GTO Tipo 1962 to have been raced by Scuderia Ferrari. In 1962, it earned a class win and a second-place finish overall at the Nürburgring 1,000 KM race. In 2012, it won the Best in Show award at the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance in Florida.

It doesn’t come close to the most expensive car ever sold at auction, however—a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe took $142 million in 2022.

But the GTO Tipo reflects the strength and stability of the market for the best Ferraris even during uncertain economic times. Other high-sellers in 2023 include the 1962 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider that sold for around $18 million at a Gooding & Co. auction March 2 and a 1964 Ferrari 250 LM that sold for €15.7 million at an Artcurial auction July 5.

Previously, the most expensive Ferrari ever sold in public was a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO that took $48.4 million at a RM Sotheby’s auction in 2018, a spokesperson for RM Sotheby’s confirmed. That one, which has a stronger racing history, is considered by marque experts to be one of the most authentic and original of all GTO examples, the RM Sotheby’s catalogue said at the time.

But the fact that this one, Chassis 3765, was a Ferrari factory entry at the 1962 24 Hours of Le Mans, in addition to its class win at the Nürburgring and its multiple racing entries by Scuderia as a works car makes it very unique, a spokesperson said. Private sales of Ferraris have included prices that soared near $70 million, according to some reports.

Elsewhere, the collector car market has cooled. As of Nov. 3, overall classic car sales totals for the year are down 23.4% year over year, from $321.4 million in 2022 to $245.9 million this year, according to Classic.com.

The annual auctions during Monterey Car Week, considered the bellwether for market values, reached a little more than $400 million across five auction houses, down from $473 million last year.