Rare classics sell for millions at Villa d'Este auction

by Noah Joseph, Autoblog (RSS feed) on May 24th, 2011 at 8:25AM

1938 Talbot-Lago T150C-SS – Click above for high-res image gallery

This past weekend, the Concorso d'Eleganza returned to Villa d'Este, revealing such splendid one-offs as theFerrari Superamerica 45, Aston Martin V12 Zagato and BMW 328 Tribute. But at the same time RM Auctionswas holding its first event at Cernobbio, selling a cadre of historically important automobiles we've been following for months, many of which went for multi-million-dollar figures.

Among the top sellers were the art-deco 1938 Talbot-Lago T150-C SS (pictured above) which sold for nearly U.S. $4.5 million, the rare four-cylinder Ferrari 500 Testa Rossa (sold for just under U.S. $4 million), the 1965 Ford GT40 roadster prototype (pictured at right) and the 1947 Bugatti Type 57SC Atalante(each of which went for just under $3 million apiece). The top of the list also included a trio of Ferrari classics from the 50s: a 1955 375 MM topped the list at U.S. $4.8M, a '59 250 California at U.S. $3.6M and a '53 250 MM at U.S. $3M.

Two of the Bertone prototypes that sold broke the million-dollar mark as well – the 1967 Lamborghini Marzal at U.S. $2.1 million and the 1970 Lancia Stratos HF Zero at U.S. $1 million – while the 60s-era Zagato-bodied Alfa Romeos sold for around U.S. $900k and $370k each. All told, some U.S. $32 million worth of classics exchanged hands at the event, the full breakdown of which you can find at this link along with more galleriesafter the jump.