8.14.2014

Top Shelf: Steve McQueen’s 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4






Goodness..

The Indiana-born, marine-turned-actor Steve McQueen was an obsessive enthusiast. He owned everything from a Jaguar XKSS to a Mini Cooper to a Ferrari 250 GT/L Lusso, which was the car that kicked off his devotion to Ferraris. When he was at the height of his career in 1967, the year in which he filmed both Bullitt and The Thomas Crown Affair, McQueen, impressed by the car that was featured in the latter of those movies, ordered a 275 N.A.R.T. Spyder. However, disaster on its maiden voyage, when a driver crashed into the back of the N.A.R.T. on the Pacific Coast Highway. Frustrated with the N.A.R.T. being off the road, McQueen quickly bought another Ferrari, and this time it was this 275 GTB/4.

It was delivered in Nocciola (“Hazelnut”), a sort of metallic gold, and before he even drove the car, the movie star ordered it to be changed. The job was entrusted to Lee Brown, who did a lot of work on McQueen’s cars and had prepped the Mustangs for Bullitt. Brown picked up the car and mixed a color he dubbed Chianti Red, which was very similar to that on the N.A.R.T. featured in The Thomas Crown Affair. The actor also added some other changes, such as taking the Borrani wire wheels and bespoke wing mirror from the crashed N.A.R.T. and transferring them to the 275, as well as sending the Nero interior off for re-trimming.

This exemplary 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 will go on sale this Saturday during Monterey Car Week. The pre-sale estimate is $8-12 million USD, you can read more about the car’s incredible history right here.

Respectington..


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