LONDON.- As RM Sotheby’s exclusive Villa Erba auction approaches, the auction house announced the consignment of a stunning 1960 Ferrari 250 GT ‘SWB’ Berlinetta Competizione, regarded by many as the greatest of all the classic sports racing GT cars of the 1960s. Chassis 1953 GT will be offered as one of the stars lot at RM Sotheby’s biennial Villa Erba auction, held during the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este on Lake Como, Italy, 23 May.

1953 GT is the 20th of 164 GT SWB Berlinetta Competiziones built and is one of 45 aluminium-bodied competition lightweights produced in 1960. The legendary Colombo designed V-12 engine produces circa 280bhp and the car’s purposeful yet beautiful Pininfarina lines combine to create one of the most visually arresting yet highly effective competition cars of all time. It is these qualities that have made the Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta Competiziones amongst the most coveted of all collector cars. The 250 SWB was introduced to the public in 1959 as the successor to the similarly successful and very beautiful 250 GT LWB, but boasted a revised chassis, shortened by 200 mm and featuring disc brakes as standard. Available in either left or right-hand drive, with either lightweight aluminium bodywork or the standard steel bodywork, and the option of an uprated engine, the newly introduced 250 SWB offered the best of all possible worlds, depending on how the customer intended to use the car.

1953 GT ticks all the performance boxes, supplied new with an uprated engine and graced with the desirable aluminium coachwork. Interestingly, the car was not subject to the perils of motorsport in its early days, rather it was delivered new to Cesare Marchi, a Florence-based doctor, who wanted the car for road use only. It remained in Italy up until 1972, when it was sold to a California owner before passing on to a number of other North American-based enthusiasts. Fully restored in the early 1990s by Motion Products, 1953 GT was presented at a number of concours events in the US before being purchased by a Japan-based collector, where it resided for the next 10 years. Purchased by its current owner in 2011, the car was immediately prepared to the highest standards and has since been campaigned at a handful of historic races, including the Silverstone Classic, the Donington Historic Festival, Goodwood Revival, Goodwood Member’s Meeting, and the Spa Classic Historic Races (Estimate available upon request).

Max Girardo, Managing Director of RM Sotheby’s Europe, says: “There are a handful of truly iconic cars that auction houses highly desire to bring to market, and the Ferrari 250 SWB Berlinetta is one of them. This car is unique for not having been raced in period, but that is something which has really contributed to the preservation and integrity of its original chassis and aluminium bodywork. This will undoubtedly be one of the major cars to be offered at any auction during 2015.”

Other notable entries for RM’s Villa Erba sale include:

• one of only 200 Ferrari 250GT Cabriolet PF Series II cars produced, chassis 2125 GT, built in1960, beautifully presented and full matching-numbers (Est. €1.400.000-€ 2.000.000);

• a freshly restored, two-owner from new 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7 Sport Lightweight, chassis 9113600649, still fitted with its original engine (Est. €950.000-€1.350.000);

• a fully matching-numbers 1971 Lamborghini Miura P400 S by Bertone, chassis 4827, one of the final examples of the Miura P400 S produced and showing less than 30,000 kilometres from new (Est. €900.000-€1.400.000);

• a well documented 1955 Austin-Healey 100S, chassis AHS-3707, beautifully presented in white over blue with early Californian SCCA racing history (Est. €900.000-€1.100.000); and,

• a largely unrestored, low-mileage 1974 Lancia Stratos HF Stradale, chassis 829AR0 001571, a rare Stradale variant in original pistachio green and a production version of the three-time World Rally Championship sensation (Est. €300.000 - €400.000).