Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta #2917GT, the Paris Motor Show car of 1961, has resided with the same gentleman for nearly half a century. Since buying the car 47 years ago in Monthléry, he has driven it regularly on the back roads of France and ensured that Charles Pozzi, the Ferrari concessionaire in Paris, has sent a support truck and mechanics to Brittany to carry out regular maintenance. This carefully preserved numbers-matching car has spent its entire life in France.
As a generation turns over and finds it’s time to sell, cars held long-term have been coming up in recent years, but to state the obvious such opportunities grow fewer and fewer. The video at bottom of this post shows a similar Ferrari 250GT SWB Berlinetta that Artcurial auctioned a few months ago at Retromobile.
ABOVE: 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta #2917GT at the 1961 Paris Motor Show, to be sold by... [+]
Originally finished in light blue Azzuro, #2917GT debuted at the 1961 Paris Motor Show. The first owner, a collector who only owned black cars, acquired #2917GT from the show stand of the importer Franco-Britannic and sent the car to Carrosserie Chapron to be reshot in black. Sometime before the current owner acquired the car in 1969 it was painted red, the color it remains today. It comes under the hammer at Artcurial Motorcars’ July 9 auction concurrent with the Le Mans Classic historic motorsport event.
1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta #2917GT © Christian Martin/Studio Virage.
