A One-Off Ferrari 599GTB Fiorano

Some weeks ago there were a couple of back to back stories, one examining the Made-For-China Ferraris, something you would not likely have heard any rumbling about in the last decade or more. And the other, a one-off "china" 599GTB to be auctioned off. I am a clsoe follower of the specialty car auctions and there have been some surprisingly strong results considering the uncertainty with in the world economy. But seems that those that have an interest in these items, there's plenty of monet left over for splurging.

Unique porcelain-finish Ferrari 599 China raises $1.77M at auction

by Noah Joseph (RSS feed) on Nov 5th, 2009 at 11:20AM

Ferrari 599 China special in cracked porcelain by Lu Hao – Click above for high-res image gallery

A Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano is an exceptional piece of automotive art. Even more exceptional is the latest model equipped with the Handling GT Evoluzione package. More exceptional still is the limited-edition 599 HGTE made exclusively for the Chinese market. But even in this rarified territory, there exists one 599 HGTE China special that stands apart. We reported on it about a month ago, and it's now been sold at auction.

The one-off Fiorano was hand painted by Chinese artist Lu Hao with a pattern reminiscent of the sought-after Ge Liln porcelain of the Song Dynasty. This unique example was sold on Tuesday to an anonymous collector from Shanghai, who paid the equivalent of $1.77 million for the privilege. The proceeds are earmarked towards helping aspiring Chinese automotive engineers to make it to Italy for further studies and an internship opportunity at Maranello. On hand for the auction event, held at the Red Gate Gallery in Beijing, were the artist, Ferrari executives, faculty members from the participating schools and none other than Michael Schumacher himself. Follow the jump for full details in the press release, and see more in our high-resolution image gallery below.