Rétromobile turns 50 this year, and Gooding Christie’s arrives as official partner with its first European sale on 29 January. It is a natural convergence. As senior specialist Rupert Banner puts it, Rétromobile is essentially Art Basel for the car world.
In the lead up to the sale, Christie’s has published its own considered selection of cars to watch, a quiet edit that frames the auction before the room fills. Since Christie’s acquisition of Gooding & Company in 2025, the message has been consistent. Great cars, like great art or watches, ask for patience, provenance and an eye trained on condition. Results approaching $200 million across Amelia Island and Pebble Beach suggest collectors are listening.
That confidence was underlined by the top lot, a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider Competizione, which achieved $25.3 million, setting a new auction record for the model and the highest result in Gooding Christie’s history.
1984 Ferrari 288 GTO
The 288 GTO is the moment Ferrari’s poster era became serious collecting. Announced in 1983, it arrived with a twin-turbo engine, Kevlar and carbon-fiber bodywork by Pininfarina, and that purposeful rear grille. Only 272 were built. This example is the collector’s dream made real: just over 1,500 kilometers, only two owners from new, and Ferrari Classiche Red Book certification issued in 2024. The interior shows no creasing, the original tires are present, and even the factory wax on the underbody remains intact. The visual tells the story better than any catalog line, the weave and ducts still crisp, the stance uncorrupted. Estimate 6 to 7 million euros. It also confirms a broader shift Banner notes, the rise of 1980s and 1990s nostalgia, those bedroom-wall cars now traded with the sobriety once reserved for coachbuilt grand tourers.
1920 Ballot 3/8 LC
Before modern racing became data and downforce, it was ingenuity and nerve. Built by Ernest-Maurice Ballot with engineering by Ernest Henry, whose twin-cam, four-valve thinking reshaped Grand Prix competition, the 3/8 LC won the 1921 Italian Grand Prix at an average 144 km/h. This car is that winner, identified by a unique cut-out in the bodywork that served as a grab point for the mandatory ride-along mechanic.
Its life reads like a syllabus in motoring history, Malcolm Campbell painted it Saxe Blue as one of his earliest Blue Birds, then Jack Dunfee and Joan Richmond campaigned it, before a long custodianship in Wales and a meticulous restoration. The surface still shows the honesty of a period build, the exposed opening on the flank a literal handhold on history. It has toured Villa d’Este, Pebble Beach and Goodwood, and is at auction for the first time. Estimate 3.5 to 6 million euros.
2018 Ferrari FXX K Evo
Ferrari’s XX Programme, launched in 2005, invites top clients to become test drivers on factory tracks. The FXX K Evo is the apex of that idea, a track-only prototype with a hybrid system delivering over 1,000 bhp, 0 to 60 mph in 2.5 seconds, and a near 250 mph top speed. Ferrari has not disclosed the number produced. It is widely believed to be around 40, most converted from earlier FXX K cars.
This one was built from new as an Evo, has never been raced, and shows 95 kilometers, all from maintenance laps at Fiorano. It was serviced in July 2025 at a cost exceeding 145,000 euros. In person, it is clinical and purposeful, factory stickers and edges unmarked, the car effectively box-fresh. Estimate 5.5 to 6.5 million euros, no reserve. Purists will argue that cars should be driven, not curated. Fair. Yet this is modern collecting’s other face, a membership model where access and data sit alongside ownership.
1938 Talbot-Lago T150-C-SS Teardrop Coupé by Figoni et Falaschi
Few objects render the case for cars-as-art as cleanly as a Figoni et Falaschi Teardrop. The T150-C-SS chassis met Joseph Figoni’s aerodynamic language at precisely the right moment, and the result is sculpture you can register. Only about a dozen Teardrops were mounted on the short-chassis T150-C-SS, each distinct.
This example, completed in May 1938 for a Belgian casino director, later vanished during the war years, resurfaced in the 1950s, and emerged from long-term storage with its wooden framework surviving and coachwork requiring only cleaning and refinishing. At Pebble Beach in 2009 it swept First in Class and elegance honors. The shape still does the talking, pontoon fenders and that tapering tail catching light in a continuous line. Estimate 6.5 to 7.5 million euros. If you want to understand why an art house acquired a car house, start here.
1960 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta
The short-wheelbase Berlinetta is Ferrari at its most distilled. Unveiled in Paris in 1959 with four-wheel Dunlop discs, revised suspension, a three-liter V12 and Scaglietti bodywork to Pininfarina’s design, it became the definitive dual-purpose GT. This early October 1960 build has enviable provenance: Swiss hill climbs in period, ownership by racer and dealer Bob Grossman via Jo Siffert’s garage, and later a decorated concours life in the United States.
Ferrari chose it for the marque’s 50th anniversary celebration, then again for the 70th, which tells you all you need to know. The stance is compact and ready, the details evolving from car to car, the grille and glazing tailored to original taste. Estimate 8 to 9 million euros. As Banner notes, this model embodies what Ferrari stood for in the 1960s, performance with restraint.
Gooding Christie’s Paris debut is more than an auction. It is a temperature check for a maturing field where provenance is currency, nostalgia is a driver, and taste is increasingly curated across categories. For the modern gentleman, the lesson is simple. Buy what is culturally resonant, not just quick. The best garages read like libraries, and this sale offers several first editions.
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