Feature
The Pinnacle of Front-Mounted Ferrari V12s
Three examples of the most incredible special-edition Ferrari V12s on the market today.
February 21, 2025
Seven of the most rare and expensive cars sold at RM Sotheby's recent auction in Paris.
RM Sotheby’s Paris 2025 Auction on 4th - 5th February played host to the sale of 134 lots, from quirky affordable classics like a 1970 Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.3, a whole plethora of hardcore Porsches from a 1973 RS right through to a 991 GT2 RS Clubsport, and the headline sale, a Le Mans-winning 1964 Ferrari 250 LM which fetched a startling sale figure.
Below are my picks of the bunch, but if you want to get absorbed in browsing the full roster of sales, check out all the lots here.
€34,880,000
Offered from the Collection of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, this 250 LM took overall victory at the 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans, Ferrari’s sixth consecutive victory. It was the only privateer-entered Ferrari to ever win Le Mans overall, run by the North American Racing Team (NART).
It was displayed at the New York Automobile Show in 1967, and following its third and final race at Le Mans in 1969, it was purchased and cared for by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum for 54 years, retaining its matching-numbers engine and gearbox.
32 250 LMs were produced in total, but the Le Mans-winning history makes this the most significant, and bidders clearly agreed, sending the hammer price to nearly €35 million.
€3,548,750
This result really speaks to how strong values of LaFerraris have become, having climbed by around 50% in the last five years, and sitting at over three times their original list price. Just 499 of Ferrari’s hybrid V12 hypercar were produced.
Seen here in bespoke Giallo paintwork with centre-locking forged FXX-K wheels and ample carbon fibre, this would be my pick over Rosso all day — sorry! It’s had two owners and covered 3,549km from new,
€3,042,500
The first Huayra R to be publicly offered at auction is chassis 005 out of 30 customer examples of the track-only masterpiece from Pagani. If you’ve seen videos of these tearing around Monza, you’ll have been taken back to the V12 Ferrari F1 cars of the ‘90s. The volume and shriek of the V12 really is that intense, and don’t get me started on the downshifts — this is a family blog!
Contstructed from carbon-titanium, the Huayra R weighs just 1,050kg, not much for the 850hp V12 to push around at 9,000rpm. This car’s carbon fibre bodywork is left exposed along with accent stripes, and has covered just 196km in the hands of its one owner from new. Here’s hoping its new owner lets it be heard at private track events!
€1,917,500
Much rarer than I realised, this Koenigsegg Agera is one of just seven examples of the original Agera ever produced, packing a 950hp, twin-turbocharged 5-litre V8. Though more models like the R, RS and more came later, still, the total of all Agera models sits at just 58.
This car looks menacing in matte exposed carbon fibre with red and white accents, and bravo, is showing over 20,000km, so it’s prime for the next owner to keep adding to that in this incredible, brutal hypercar.
€820,625
A shape so timeless, the Aventador that still closely resembled the original Countach went out of production nearly 50 years after this car was produced. Whilst the more extreme Wolf of Wall Street spec Anniversary cars came later, this original Periscopio model is a beautifully unfussy design which has aged like a fine wine and will forever be an icon of the supercar.
One of only 157 examples of the LP400 ‘Periscopio’ model produced, this car was originally in Rosso over Nero before being sprayed and converted to silver over tobacco hide. Its 4-litre V12 produces 370hp, enough for a top speed of 192mph thanks to that slippery design.
€646,250
When examples of the Ford GT very occasionally come up for sale, so often they’re accompanied by the dreaded acronym POA or an ambitious asking price, so it’s nice to see what people are actually willing to pay in these situations.
This is a limited edition Carbon Series which, would you believe, has an exposed carbon stripe running the length of the car, sits on carbon wheels, and is 18kg lighter than the standard model. With just one owner from new and just 262km on the clock, this is surely one of the best examples you could hope to find, and gives a good idea of the top end of the values these can fetch.
€483,125
A DTM Cabriolet might seem like a bit of an oxymoron, but with just 80 of these supercharged animals produced to celebrate Mercedes-Benz winning the 2003 DTM title, they’re hugely saught after.
I got behind the wheel of a hard-top DTM a few years ago, and it is an absolute torque monster, with 582hp accompanied by the whoosh of the supercharger and as much wheelspin as your right foot decides. There’s so much torque that the ancient five-speed auto doesn’t even hold it back too much.
