In our last piece (Is the End Nigh?) we mentioned a yet-to-be-announced Ferrari that would be one of the highlights of the auctions during the Monterey Bay auto week. Last week, Gooding and Company confirmed that they will have the Ferrari 365 P Berlinetta Speciale “Tre Posti” in their Pebble Beach sale.

The Tre Posti s/n 8971 is an outstanding example of not just Italian coach-building and engineering excellence, but represents an era when Italy was a style leader in many design disciplines. The Tre Posti is an artifact that takes its place as a symbol of mid-century Italian design on a par with Olivetti’s Lettera 22 and Pier Luigi Nervi’s Exhibition Hall in Turin. The nickname comes from the car’s three abreast seating with the steering wheel in the middle, a feature that preceded the McLaren F1 by a quarter century.

The center-steer cockpit is a combination of luxury and competition references. The latter include the gated shifter, the P2 pedal box and the untrimmed lower panels. Photo by Hugues Vanhoolandt.

Provenance contributes greatly to the value of a collector car and the Tre Posti’s includes three of the most important people in the history of sporting automobiles. It was designed by the famous coachbuilder, Pininfarina. It was built on a racing chassis created at Enzo Ferrari’s factory where the greatest sports and racing cars of the era were produced. Finally, it was specially modified for and imported by the man who built the Ferrari marque in both Europe and the U.S., Luigi Chinetti, Sr. He won Ferrari’s first Le Mans 24 Hours in 1949 and was the entrant for the marque’s last win there in 1965.

In 2001, Concorso Italiano had an impressive display of Pininfarina concept cars of which the Tre Posti was one. Three accomplished sons of three famous automotive personalities drove it across the ramp. Luigi Chinetti, Jr. (l) enjoys the ride, Piero Ferrari drives and Sergio Pininfarina talks to the crowd on the microphone. Credit: Concorso Italiano.

Ferrari once said that rear-engine cars “…put the cart before the horse.” That sentiment kept Ferrari behind the curve with his racing efforts when rear-engine cars began winning Grand Prix races in 1958. Ferrari finally reacted in 1960 with a 1.5 liter V-6 rear-engine Formula 2 car that was among the fastest in its class. The same concept was applied to both Ferrari’s Grand Prix and sports racing cars in 1961 with the 156 and 246 models. That year, the 156 “Sharknose” won both the Drivers (Phil Hill) and Manufacturers Grand Prix Championships. The season included a remarkable 1-2-3-4 finish at the Belgian Grand Prix. Success continued in the 1961-62 Sports Car Manufacturers Championship, with both front-engine V-12s and rear-engine V-6s.

In 1963, Ferrari introduced the 250 P, a sports racer that was his first V-12, rear-engine car. Variants of up to 4.4 liters would dominate the sports car championship for two of the next three seasons. In 1966, the combination of Ford and Goodyear money allowed the former to take the Manufacturers Cup, but Ferrari regained the title in 1967.

It was against this backdrop that Batista Pininfarina and his son, Sergio had tried to convince Ferrari to build a road-going rear-engine car. However Ferrari was not interested, feeling a traditional Ferrari V-12 behind the driver would be too demanding for the casual Ferrari customer.

The 1965 Dino prototype. It is seen at a Pininfarina design exhibition at last year’s Geneva show. The years have not been kind to the Plexiglas covering over the front lighting system.

To further their case, Pininfarina created a prototype V-6 rear-engine concept that was introduced at the Paris Salon in October, 1965. It was a street version of the 206 S race car built on 206 S chassis s/n 0840. The car had styling cues that would resonate with future Ferraris for some time – the rear flank air intakes with strakes, the flying buttress rear window treatment and the exaggerated high front fender line with the sloping front deck were examples. The full width Perspex screen for the lighting would inspire the Daytona. With its impossibly low roofline and poor integration of the front and rear of the car, it was not an entirely successful design, but it was influential and launched other concepts that led to the production 246 Dino.

The 5 liter engine has separate coils and distributors for each cylinder bank. Note the traditional Ferrari riveted tank at the right. Photo by Hugues Vanhoolandt.

At this point Ferrari was contemplating a rear-engine design as long as it had the limited power of the small V-6. However, Pininfarina had visions of a PF-bodied supercar and secured a lengthened version (2200mm to 2400) of a 365 P2 chassis. The 365 P2 was a sports racer built for private teams like Chinetti’s NART. It was almost identical to the 330 P2 works cars except that the factory cars used a 4-liter engine with dohc, while the 365 P2s had the less complicated 4.4-liter sohc engine. Chinetti’s 365 P2 won the 12 Hours of Reims in 1965 with Pedro Rodriguez and Jean Guichet.

The spare tire is carried in the same position as on the racing P2. Photo by Hugues Vanhoolandt.

Pininfarina took the race-oriented chassis and showed what a modern supercar could be. He would make the first rear-engine Ferrari V-12 road car. Sergio never liked to credit any one design to an individual, but on this car he wanted to make a statement about his firm’s prowess and worked closely with his Chief Designer, Aldo Broverone. In the process, he created one of the great Ferraris of all time.

The body reflects some of the 1965 Dino concept cues, but there is no mistaking this 380 horsepower bolide for a Dino. It is more like a luxury Grand Prix car for the road and its central seating allows you equidistant views of the front fenders just like a Grand Prix driver looking at his open wheels.

The rear ¾ view shows the car off to its best advantage. The curved rear light and the swoop from the roofline that doesn’t resolve itself until the very end of the rear deck are a classic example of an invocation of speed while standing still. Contrasting that flow are the rear deck louvers and the vertical vents on the rear valance. At the very bottom are the oversize exhaust pipes which suggest the power of the car. Photo by Hugues Vanhoolandt.

The side intakes are more pronounced, and the rear window is similarly tunneled. The competition heritage is invoked by an outside racing fuel filler. Some of the details harkened back to Vignale bodies where the smaller items were jewel-like. One was the polished metal air intake on the rear deck. Besides the central seating, another feature that was very advanced and expensive for the time is the athermic transparent roof.

This view shows the polished air intake, the specially cast wheels, the outside fuel filler and the transparent roof. Credit: Gooding and Company

The five-spoke wheels are a theme in many following Ferraris. Unlike many show cars that were rushed to make a date, the Tre Posti is a completely finished road car. The interior, with special instrumentation, switches and hand-formed controls is that of a Grand Routier. The Gardenia White paint brings attention to the darker moonroof.

With the Tre Posti, Pininfarina had created a masterpiece and wanted to be sure the press and public saw it. In the fall of 1966, it was on the Pininfarina stand at the Paris Salon and the Earls Court Motor Show. The following year it was shown at Brussels and Geneva and it was entered at the Florence Concours in May.

This is Ferrari’s invoice to Chinetti for the bare chassis and the upgrade to the engine. There was a further invoice from Pininfarina for $11,560, making a total of $21,160. Other documents show that Carton was credited $8,000 for his 500 Superfast and the Tre Posti’s delivered price was $26,000, the most expensive car the Chinettis had sold to that point. Credit: Chinetti Family Archive

Meanwhile, as Luigi Chinetti awaited the car’s delivery to the States, he put his own stamp on it. From the late 1940s, Chinetti had pushed Ferrari to make larger engine cars, explaining that the 2.0 and 2.6 liter cars Ferrari was delivering to the U.S. had a hard time matching the pace of the Cadillac and Chrysler-engined Allards and American specials with displacements of well over five liters. Chinetti wanted to be sure the Tre Posti was the fastest car on the road, and had Ferrari take the engine out from 4.4 to 5.0 liters. Some claim this displacement cannot be achieved with the Type 209 block, but the attached invoice from Ferrari to Chinetti would seem to indicate otherwise.

The Agnelli version of the Tre Posti is not as elegant as the Chinetti car. The painted beltline and overwhelming spoiler break the spell of the flowing lines. Credit: Pininfarina

Another automotive personality was also taken with the Tre Posti – Gianni Agnelli, the head of FIAT. He had Pininfarina make another one – s/n 8815 but with some modifications. They included a large lateral spoiler which conflicts with the complex lines of the flying buttress rear window and deck treatment and elegant Kamm rear end. There is little doubt that the Chinetti car is the more successful design.

The Tre Posti came to the U.S. in 1966 after its tour of the world’s great auto shows, having been presold to Marvyn Carton, the Executive Vice President of investment bank Allen & Company, a firm known for its privacy. Carton traded in a Ferrari 500 Superfast.

Chinetti sent the car to the Los Angeles Imported Automobile and Sports Car Show in October 1967 and it was delivered to Carton when it returned from the West Coast. The car proved to be more than Carton had bargained for, and it was traded back to Chinetti that year for a 365 2+2, a car more appropriate for driving in New York City.

Two unknown VIPs are about to be driven around Bridgehampton by Stirling Moss in the Tre Posti during the 1968 Can Am weekend. Moss did promotional work for Johnson Wax, the series sponsor. Moss arrived for the weekend in an Intermeccanica Italia. Bridgehampton was the Chinettis’ home track, and their driver, Pedro Rodriguez took a 3 liter 250 P to a 5th place finish against Can Am cars with twice the displacement. Credit Johnson Wax.

In mid-1968, the car was sold to one of the most colorful Ferrari characters of the era, Dutchman Jan de Vroom, who traded a 275 GTB/4. De Vroom was a Chinetti customer and backer of the Chinetti’s North American Racing Team. He owned some great Pininfarina designs including the striking 410 Superamerica s/n 0719. He also raced Ferraris. He was a regular on the New York society scene, often accompanying Margaret Rockefeller Strong, who was married to George Cuevas, the founder of the Ballet Russe, later the Le Grand Ballet du Marquis de Cuevas. Cuevas was a true impresario and had Nijinsky as a choreographer and introduced Nureyev to Western audiences. De Vroom’s relationship with Margaret is unclear, but she did buy him a house in Palm Beach. After enjoying the car in the South of France as a guest at the Cuevas’ Villa San Lorenzo in Cannes and having the car serviced at the factory, De Vroom traded it back to the Chinettis in 1969 where it has remained for 44 years.

Over the years, Luigi Chinetti, Jr. has shared the Tre Posti with enthusiasts around the world. The car has been to Goodwood, Concorso Italiano, Meadowbrook, the Louis Vuitton (New York and Paris), and the Ferrari Festival at Brands Hatch. It is seen here at Pebble Beach as the dreaded morning fog is just beginning to break up.

This Ferrari, the fruit of the collaboration of Enzo Ferrari, Sergio Pininfarina and Luigi Chinetti, will be sold at the Gooding and Company Pebble Beach sale during the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. If you want a nice, original condition vintage Ferrari icon with less than 5,000 miles, here’s your chance. If you happened to submit the winning bid, remember the Brockbank cartoon – don’t take your wife and mistress for a ride at the same time.

As the Monterey Bay historic automobile “Holy Week” approaches, there are some interesting tea leaves to read on the auction front. We will discuss the cars going on the block during the week’s auctions shortly, but the big sale news is the pending deal to sell the entire Bonhams auction house.

The Mercedes W196 that Bonhams sold in 2013 set the record for the most expensive car ever sold at auction. It was driven by the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio to victories at the Swiss and Spanish Grands Prix. The car thus contributed points toward Fangio’s World Championship in 1954.

After problems with less than competitive buyers’ and sellers’ premiums and some customer service glitches, Bonhams engineered a brilliant turnaround and a year ago last month, realized the highest price ever for a car at auction. It was a Mercedes W196 Grand Prix car, s/n 00006. The price, including buyer’s premium, was US$ 33,557,787. At Monterey in 2013 they more than tripled their 2012 sales from US$ 9 million to 31 million. That was part of what allowed Bonhams to double its profits from the previous year to US$ 41.8 million. It would appear that they will be increasing their profit again this year.

Bonhams shareholders include two incredibly sophisticated collector car personalities, Robert Brooks and Evert Louwman. Brooks is a former racing driver who founded an auction house that was merged into Bonhams. Louwman is the former Dutch importer of Lexus, Toyota and Suzuki who has one of the world’s major automobile collections. It is displayed at the Louwman Museum in The Hague. Management began taking bids for Bonhams last month. Meanwhile a group of banks began assembling a debt package for the ultimate buyer of between $250 and 350 million based on estimates of Bonhams projected earnings.

RM will present this 250 LM s/n 6045. Originally owned by casino magnate and Ferrari distributor, Bill Harrah, he drove it 8000 miles on the street. It was never raced in period, but has had vintage outings since. The car has a complete Ferrari Classiche Red Book certification. It is seen driven by restorer Jeremy Cottingham in modern vintage racing.

One question that comes immediately to mind is why do the shareholders want to sell such a profitable business? Do they think the rapid advance of prices in the collector car market has created a bubble and now is the time to sell?

Despite the Bonhams Mercedes sale, Ferraris have usually headed the list of highest auction house sales. Bonhams will have the most prestigious line-up of seven figure Ferraris at Monterey. Their headliner will be the ex-Violati Ferrari GTO s/n 3851 GT. Despite the fact that no one doubts the car will reach the mid to upper eight figures, the car will be sold at no reserve.

Violati, who died in 2010, was the heir to the Ferrarelle mineral water fortune. He had a collection of over 70 cars, including 40 Abarths. The collection had been off and on the market for over two decades, but matters were complicated by tax authorities, a wife, son and mistress. His cars were ultimately purchased by a British investment group in May, and they are the consigners of the GTO and other Violati cars. All will be offered at no reserve. Another round of selling will take place at Bonhams Goodwood sale in September.

Dana Mecum is auctioning the ex-Tony Parravano 375 MM 0362 during Monterey week. In 1954, this car won at Golden Gate Park and Offutt Air Force Base (Jack McAfee) as well as at Palm Springs in October (Bob Drake). For a time, it was the fastest car on the West Coast. Credit Michael T. Lynch archive.

Some say the no reserve, especially on the GTO, is a wise marketing decision because everyone with the money will have a chance to bid as opposed to the private treaty sales that usually occur where the car is only offered to a select few. My reaction is that there are plenty of big players who do not want to see their name in Forbes, the Wall Street Journal or the Financial Times as the purchaser of a car that expensive. We shall see who is correct.

Dino 246T s/n 008 on the cover. The car won 12 races in a four year career in Europe and Australia/New Zealand. It carried Chris Amon to the 1970 Tasman Championship and Graeme Lawrence to the same championship the next year. Lawrence also used the car to take the New Zealand Gold Coast Championship in 1970 and 1971. The car will be offered by Bonhams during their Quail Lodge sale.

Besides the GTO, Bonhams will have nine more Violati cars, four of them as yet unannounced. We know the following seven figure examples will be sold – 250 MM PF Coupe s/n 0312, PF Cabriolet Series 1 s/n 0759 GT. There is also a 246T Dino monoposto s/n 008, The Violati cars are in addition to nine more Ferraris shown on Bonhams site, at least two of which are seven figure cars, a Pinin Farina Cabriolet Series II s/n 1981 and the Daytona Spyder s/n 17057.

The Violati ex-Devin 250MM on the cover of R&T with a different model.

Besides the Bonham’s cars, there will be more seven figure Ferraris at the other Monterey auctions. Here is a rundown:

Gooding & Company traditionally has had the highest sales price per vehicle during the week. As always, they have a stellar lineup of old (250 Europa GT s/n 0427) and new (333 SP s/n 041) from the venerable firm. Other Ferraris include no less than three GTCs. Rumor has it that they will shortly announce an extremely significant Ferrari in the next few days which may realize the week’s second highest price after the GTO.

RM Auctions headliners will be 250 LM s/n 6045, 250 Europa s/n 0305, 330 SP s/n 019 and F 310B s/n179 and examples of supercars, Enzo and FXX. RM will offer at least 29 Ferraris and counting.

This Ferrari F 310 B s/n 179 was driven by both Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine during the 1997 season. The sound of one of these makes us long for the days of the V-10 in F1. This model allowed Schumacher to enter the final race of the season still having a mathematical chance at the championship. In only his second season with the Scuderia, it was not to be. Schumi finished second by three points to Jacques Villeneuve in a Williams-Renault. This F1 car will be part of the RM armada at their Monterey auction.

Rick Cole Auctions leads off with the ex-Parravano 410 Sport s/n 0592 driven by Carroll Shelby. They are also showing a rare 275 GTB Competizione Cliente s/n 7477 and a 250 Short Wheelbase s/n 3735 among their selection of a dozen or so Ferraris. The 410 Sport was previewed in the July 8th edition of VeloceToday.

Mecum Auctions is offering another Parravano car, 375 MM s/n 0362. Mecum’s auction will also include car a 250 GT Pinin Farina Series II Farina Cabriolet.

It would seem to this observer that 80 Ferraris going over the block may not be due to the usual motivations for selling such as death, divorce and chapter 11. People with million dollar cars often have a better understanding of markets than the general public. Admittedly, they were not produced in a batch of 30 or less like most race cars, but to see six 250 GT Pinin Farina Cabriolets offered in just four days is not an everyday occurrence.

This beautiful Ferrari 250 GT Series II Pinin Farina Cabriolet will be at the Gooding sale at Pebble Beach. It is s/n 1475 and has enjoyed long term ownership by Ferrari author and historian, Hilary Raab.

There are also presently nine variants of 275 GTBs being shown and entries are still coming in. As with the Bonhams’ auction house sale, one could ask if so many significant Ferraris being consigned in one week is a sign that long time owners think the market is toppy. The Monterey auctions may prove to be a watershed week for the collector car market. Will buyers see that the upward climb continues, or will there be enough chairs for the sellers if the music stops.