CARMEL, CA.- The magnificent Ferrari 250 GT Pinin Farina Cabriolet destined for Bonhams Quail Lodge Sale is a very early, stylish example, and only the eighth of some 40 units ever built.

Having spent its life in Italy and Venezuela, it now travels to California for the highly anticipated auction, with an estimate of $6.5 million to $8.5 million (£3.8 million - £5 million). It will be offered without reserve.

Its chassis frame was delivered to the Pinin Farina plant in September 1957, and upon the assembled car’s completion with this strikingly handsome body it was promptly exhibited at the 39th Salone dell’ Automobile in Turin’s Valentino Park exhibition hall.

In January 1958, this Cabriolet was then shipped to the Venezuelan Ferrari importer, Carlos Kauffman, in the central-American state’s capital city of Caracas.

Newly registered on Venezuelan plates, it was later pictured in the factory’s official 1959 Ferrari Yearbook, whose compilers every year made much of the burgeoning marque’s growing global appeal. On the streets of Caracas the car turned all heads with its original white paint scheme later changed to a bright green hue. Its original price there was at 80,000 Venezuelan Bolivares.

The car later received its first private owners in Luis and Carmen Perez Dupuy. The pair went on to sell it to a Mr. Gustavo Guttierez, who retained the car until 1986 (by which time it had been repainted bright red). Ultimately, in 1991 it was inducted into the Maranello Rosso Collection in San Marino, and returned to its native Italy.

This magnificently imposing Cabriolet has been well maintained and most sympathetically restored, with its exterior Bianco paintwork providing a striking counterpoint to its Pelle Naturale Conolly leather upholstery.

Of all the road-going Ferraris from the Maranello Rosso Collection, this ex-Carlos Kauffman, 1958 Turin Show car, is particularly admired as a Ferrari of enormous distinction, rarity and surviving originality.

The ten entries from the Maranello Rosso Collection are:
1. 1953 Ferrari 250 MM Berlinetta
2. 1969 Ferrari Dino 206 GT Coupe
3. 1968 Ferrari 365 GTC Coupe
4. 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO Berlinetta
5. 1978 Ferrari 312 T3 Formula 1 Racing single-seater
6. 1958 Ferrari 250 GT Series 1 Pinin Farina Cabriolet
7. 1968 Ferrari Dino 166/246T Formula 2/Tasman racing single-seater
8. 1981 Ferrari 512 BB/LM Endurance Racing Coupe
9. 1970 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona uprated to Competition Specification
10. 1962 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Speciale Aerodinamica