The winning bid is about 233 million yen! In the summer of 2017, the hot news floating around the world was “Japanese born classic cars were sold at auctions and “Ferrari 365GTB / 4 (commonly known as “Daytona”)” was on spotlight.
Though it was reported many times before just to reiterate the identity of the individual, the Daytona was manufactured in 1969 and was delivered to the owner of the Italian auto magazine, Autosprint. After it was used in Verona and Ravenna (both Italian cities), it was exported to Japan in 1971. After many ownership changes in Japan finally it was left unattended by an owner living in Gifu for a long time.
The miraculous discovery of the Daytona has led to appear on the RM Sotheby’s auction list with photos of what was apparently in the barn in 2017. Come on overnight, it’s hard. It’s as if the rock stars, who have been idle for many years, have come to the fore.
The Daytona entered an auction on September 10 as part of Ferrari’s 70th anniversary event at the Fiorano Circuit in Maranello, home of Ferrari. That’s a big feature of the auction. Extensive press releases were also issued to countries around the world. I was lucky enough to be present at the auction site. Daytona, who was brilliantly dusty, settled in front of the auction site and bids were started. Then the tender bids celebrated the 70th anniversary of Ferrari’s funding, and the amount rapidly raised again. The entrance fee for venue was about 50,000 yen so many participants were biding from outside the venue using telephone or Skype. But quickly bid value exceeded 100 million yen, finally it has exceeded the reference price of 180 million to 210 million yen set by Sotheby.
As a result, the final price was 1.8 million euros (about 233 million yen), setting up the highest bid price paid for Daytona in any auction.
