Car of the Week: This Fully Restored 1965 Ferrari Could Fetch $2 Million at Auction

Today’s sleek supercars populate the cell-phone screens of teenage automotive enthusiasts around the globe. But it wasn’t always so. Long ago, in the day when owning a color television was a luxury, the sight of a Ferrari in a magazine—let alone on the road—was a rare privilege. The decade of the 1960s was an especially fertile period for car design, and there’s no arguing that the Italians did it better than anyone, anywhere. Like the finest Italian suit, many of the country’s cars were bespoke creations, but even “off-the-rack” offerings were exclusive and expensive, at least relative to anything other than Rolls-Royce, Bentley, or Aston Martin out of the U.K.

By 1965, essentially every car that inched its way off the Maranello production line was assembled by hand. Maserati was loping along at a similar pace, and Lamborghini—just born—made fewer than 100 cars a year after its founding. Those marques occupied such a rarefied strata, that really, anything they made throughout that period must be regarded as much art as automobile. 

A high-water mark for the era was Ferrari’s elegant 275 GTS, a superb 1965 example of which will be offered at Monaco Car Auctions’ Ferrari-only L’Astarossa sale, which returns to the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco for its second edition on June 8. Ferrari unveiled its 275 GTS at the 1964 Paris Motor Show, along with the better-known 275 GTB. While more than 800 GTBs of various model variants were produced, Ferrari made just 200 examples of the GTS between late 1964 and early 1966.

Although completely different in appearance from the GTB, the GTS shared similar underpinnings, including the independent rear suspension, rear-mounted five-speed gearbox, and wet-sump, 3.3-liter V-12 engine. The latter was the last of Ferrari’s Colombo-designed V-12s, made 260 hp, and took the convertible to 150 mph. Whereas the berlinetta’s Pininfarina-designed body was built by Scaglietti, the all-steel spider was built by its designer, Pininfarina, after which, fully completed and trimmed bodies were delivered to Maranello for fitment of the mechanicals.

The 29th produced, the car on offer was then delivered new to Spain, where it has primarily resided since. A full restoration was performed in 2008 by GPS Classic in Italy, which returned the vehicle to its original condition. With matching numbers and retaining its original engine, this GTS wears the original paint and interior colorways of Blu Chiaro and Pelle Blu, respectively.

Shown at the 2009 Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, the car currently has 3,169 kilometers (about 1,969 miles) on its odometer, and has been maintained by its devoted steward since its restoration. The vehicle is accompanied by Ferrari Classiche certification and comprehensive documentation from U.K. Ferrari specialist DK Engineering. This important piece of Ferrari history is estimated to sell for between $1.6 million to $2 million.

Click here for more photos of this 1965 Ferrari 275 GTS.