Sometimes something extremely rare and collectible becomes available for purchase. Baseball cards, artwork, rare wines, they all have their own specific enthusiast collectors. For the enthusiast supercar collector, however, the combination of the word “Ferrari” with the numbers “250” immediately perks every ear and eyebrow in the room up.
While this isn’t the 250 GTO, up for sale is a still extremely rare 250 Europa GT Coupe from 1955. Unveiled in 1954 at the Paris Motor Show, this was the version of the 250 that was designed not to win the Targa Florio, but to be driven there in enormous comfort and luxury while still having a bit of a beast under the hood.
It is a beast, as the 250 Europa GT was one of the first Ferrari models to carry the revered Tipo 112 3.0L Colombo V12, with approximately 215 HP at the flywheel.
What makes this particular example extremely collectible is that out of the 43 Ferrari 250 Europa GT’s that left the factory, it was one of only two built with an aluminum body, known as the “Alloy Competizione.” Chassis 0387 was the 16th built of those 43, and was built to spec for one of Ferrari’s most famous VIP clients, His Royal Highness Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands. It is even in his preferred black color, specified as Nero over Pelle Naturale.
Even better for the collector, the car is completely numbers matching. Engine, transmission, chassis, and body are all the original pieces that left the factory. It has undergone a recent restoration by Ferrari specialists Grant Touring Enterprises, in the hands of Patrick Ottis and Chuck Wray, their two most experienced and skilled technicians. Total receipts for all the work done were around $300,000, as it was a top to bottom, road to roof restoration.
It has had a mild engine rebuild for new valves and a restored top end in 2010 from Goinin Moteurs of France, and also had a paint refresh (note: Not a repaint, just a refresh) at the same time.
Other than those two touch ups, it has been carefully stored and driven sparingly to keep all the oil moving and the parts working, meaning that it is fully road worthy. However, with just 56,542 KM (35,134 miles) on the clock, it’s only averaged 819.5 KM (509.2 miles) per year since leaving the factory.
While you could drive it, with something this rare, we think the only trips it should take are from the transport truck to its place at Pebble Beach’s Concours d’Elegance! The car is being sold through Schaltkulisse GMBH out of Germany, a specialty consignment and broker dealership for supercars and rare exotics, with the car itself located in Miami, Florida.
