This 1954 Ferrari 375 MM Spider has been around longer than your mom but hasn’t had as many riders.
“This 375 is simply an incredible racing car linked to the beginning of the Ferrari mystique, but step back from that and you see an amazing life,” explains Sam Murtaugh, the man in charge of the auction that includes this insane piece of motor history. The auction house estimates this rare piece of gorgeous driving machine will grab between $8 and $10 million on the auction block.
The owner is not just buying this pristine (but overhauled) work for Ferrari art, they’re also buying a crazy back story. The car has been restored, shut down, disappeared for a little while and finally found a home in the house of two California college professors.
Here’s more bullet points on the 1954 Ferrari Spider’s resume.
The 375 MM (MM for Mille Miglia, the storied 1,000-mile race around Italy that would be shut down after its 1957 running resulted in the deaths of drivers and spectators alike) continued to make a name for itself over the next six years. Among the famous drivers who experienced the power of the 2,000 lb. car’s 4.5 liter V-12 were Dan Gurney, Bob Bondurant and Skip Hudson. Veteran SCCA racer Don Hulette would write the final chapter in the 375’s early race history, taking third at a Grand Prix for Sports Cars Consolation Race in Riverside, Calif.
So what can the owner of this car expect to find under the hood for his $8-10 million dollar investment?
Today, the car looks as it did when it rolled off a flatbed and into Scuderia Parravano. A notable exception is its engine, which comes courtesy of a different 375 MM; when Arciero sold the car at the end of its racing life, it was being powered by a Maserati 4.2 Indianapolis powerplant. That may sound outrageous today, but fifty years ago these cars weren’t seen as seven-figure museum pieces but rather practical tools with which to win trophies. If a different engine might do the trick, so be it.
The 1954 Ferrari 375 MM Spider will go on auction August 14th.
[via Yahoo! Autos]