A classic sportscar once owned by French actor Alain Delon then lost for decades has became the fifth most expensive car ever sold on Friday when it was auctioned for $23 million.
The Ferrari 250 GT SWB is one of 36 ever made and one of 60 classic cars discovered rotting away and forgotten on a farm in western France last year.
Other gems found on the farm sported gleaming names like Bugatti, Hispano-Suiza, Talbot-Lago, Panhard-Levassor, Maserati, Delahaye and Delage. And some have gone for three to four times asking price.
However, the Ferrari--a type that's featured 13 times on the list of the 100 most expensive cars ever sold--is seen as the crown jewel of the show by most.
Aside from its rarity, the Ferrari is prized for having been photographed carrying stars Delon as well as Shirley MacLaine and Jane Fonda during the 1964 filming of Les Felins.
It was sold Friday at the Artcurial auction house in Paris, where managing director Matthieu Lamoure likened the find to the discovery of King Tut's tomb.
'We were overcome with emotion. Probably much like Lord Carrington and Howard Carter, on being the first for centuries to enter Tutankhamun's tomb,' he told AFP.
The 1956 Maserati that occupied that spot next to the Ferrari's on the farm was also sold Friday, when it fetched close to $2 million.
The cars were collected from the 1950s to the 1970s by entrepreneur Roger Baillon, who dreamt of restoring them to their former glory and displaying them in a museum.
However, his plans were dashed as his business struggled, forcing Mr Baillon to sell about 50 of the vehicles.
Since then his collection has sat dormant in makeshift corrugated iron shelters and outbuildings on the farm.
Mr Baillon died about 10 years ago and his son, Jacques, who inherited the collection, died last year.
Mr Baillon's grandchildren had no idea of the extent of the collection, calling in car specialists Lamoure and Pierre Novikoff of Artcurial to estimate its value.
(dailymail.co.uk)
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