Le Mans-winning Ferrari fetches $5.9 million at auction

MONTEREY, Calif., Aug 18 Michael Ellis writing for Reuters reported that stocks may be hurting, retirement plans may be devastated, but the market for vintage cars races ahead. A Le Mans-winning 1962 Ferrari 330 Testa Rossa sold at auction for $5.9 million this weekend, the highest amount paid for a classic car in 15 years, officials with RM Auctions said on Sunday.

The Testa Rossa, the last built by Ferrari and piloted to victory at the 1962 Le Mans 24 hour endurance race, was the top price paid for a vintage car since Christie's auctioned a 1931 Bugatti Type 41 Royale for 5.5 million British pounds in November, 1987, just weeks after the Wall Street stock market crash.

With the battered stock market and an uneven economic recovery, investors are looking for other places to park their money. Many are settling on classic cars, and the epicenter of the market is in the Monterey region this weekend, during the annual Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance classic car show and historic races.

"For top cars, the market is still running good," Peter Kaus, the founder of the Rosso Bianco museum in Aschaffenburg, Germany, the largest sports car museum in Europe with more than 220 models, told Reuters.

The 65-year old German millionaire, who paid $115,000 for a 1949 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 convertible at the RM auction, said investors can make money on classic cars, but "you have to have the right heartbeat. You have to have the right brain."

"The problem with cars compared to art is you're dealing with a third dimension with cars, which is movement. You can hang a painting on the wall," he said.

RM Auctions raised a total of $19.3 million from its auction of nearly 200 sports and vintage cars in Monterey this weekend, said RM Auctions Inc. vice president Ian Kelleher. Nearby in Carmel, Christie's hopes its auction late Sunday of 117 vehicles will raise $14 million to $16 million.

"It seems to be a strong market," a Christie's spokeswoman said. A Christie's auction in May in Dearborn, Michigan of Ford Motor Co. prototype and concept cars raised $4.4 million, with a 1992 Ghia Ford Focus concept selling for $1.1 million, five to 10 times its estimated value.

Rob Williams, general manager of the Blackhawk Collection, which held a sale on the green lawn of the Pebble Beach Equestrian Center this weekend, said the weak stock market has helped generate more business. "People want to put money into something else," he said. "This is something you can have in your garage, touch and feel, and still have a great investment."

Nearby, Al Engle scanned the field of classic cars, looking for a few models for a car museum he hopes to open in Waukena, California as a tax shelter for his expensive hobby. "It's basically going to be called the Historical Transportation Museum," said Engle, looking across the field toward his 1903 Oldsmobile Curved Dash, listed for $37,000.

He had his eye on several cars, his favorite a 1954 DeSoto Adventurer 2 with an asking price of $475,000. But the Italian-styled DeSoto had already sold, and