A 1953 Ferrari 250 Mille Miglia Berlinetta is the top lot of Bonhams' Quail Lodge auction in California on August 15 with a valuation of $9m-12m.
The model stands as the first collaboration between the marque and coach maker Pinin Farina, as well as being the first in the long running 250 GT line - which includes the 1963 250 GTO that sold for a world record $52m in October last year.
 The 1953 Ferrari 250 MM Berlinetta retains its original blue and white livery |
This example was raced extensively during the 1950s and still retains the classic white and blue livery it displayed in its earliest competitions.
It passed through a number of owners before being shipped back to Italy in the 1980s, where it competed in long distance championships - indicating its incredible durability.
Indeed one owner, a William A Lester, recounted in a 1965 edition of Road & Track how the car had nearly come a cropper while it was being unloaded: "A fork lift gently lowered the car from the plane. Slowly the lift inched the car toward the ground.
"An inch or two from the asphalt the pallet suddenly shifted. The car rolled off the pallet toward the nearest shipping crate. A sickening crash told me it had hit, nose first".
Years of maintenance and care have ensured that it remains as stunning a proposition today as when it first rolled off the production line.
The sale will also include a 1973 Ferrari 365GTS/4 Daytona Spyder and a Rolls-Royce Phantom V formerly owned by Elvis Presley.
We have this racing jacket owned by Paul Newman available.
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