This 1985 Ferrari 288 GTO, chassis 52471, sold at Rètromobile Paris with Gooding Christie’s at the end of January for 9.117.500 euros, over 2 million euros more than its high estimate. It is now the most expensive Ferrari 288 GTO ever sold. All because it’s Sicilian!
Ferrari only made 272 production examples of the 288 GTO. It was built for Group B racing but never raced. Today, it’s remarkable for being the first of the Ferrari supercars that include the F40, F50, Enzo, LaFerrari, and now F80.
Chassis 52471 was first delivered to Dr. Vincenzo Garraffa of Trapani, Sicily. He is a radiologist, politician, and former hillclimb champion. Sicily’s dry and warm climate combined with its culture of keeping things pristine meant that this car was kept in perfect condition.
Garraffa sold it in 1994 to Dr. Colin Kolles of Ingolstadt, Germany. Kolles is a dentist and a former F1 team principal, and he kept the car in the same condition as Garraffa did.
Today, that Sicilian culture shows in the car’s condition: original tires, original wax coating on the underside, not worn off from use or restoration, and only 1.500 kilometers – maybe.
When this car was offered for sale by the Ferrari dealer Gohm in Singen, Germany in 2023 for 6.000.000 euros, Marcel Massini, Ferrari historian, wrote on Ferrarichat, “52471 was seen in January 2017 in Germany with 5’084 kms showing on the odometer. Not 1’300 and not 1’500 kms. Must have been driven backwards the last six years.” Further, when it was put up for auction at Gooding Christie’s, user msn wrote, “The car has been clocked.”
In Ferrari world, mileage is king, and low mileage examples sell for substantial premiums to driver examples. There is plenty of incentive to tamper with an odometer. That could have happened here with chassis 52471. Incredibly, 5.000 kilometers may have been considered by the owner to be too many.
Regardless, even with this discrepancy, the market decided to make this the most expensive 288 GTO ever sold, and that’s because its condition kept by Sicilian culture speaks for itself.
In realtà si chiama semplicemente GTO, non 288 GTO