Costliest auctioned car ‘in Swiss hands’

The unidentified successful bidder acquired the 300-horsepower NART Spider sports car, built in 1967, at an auction in Monterey, California.

Die Welt, the German newspaper, identified the buyer as Swiss, information that has been subsequently been picked up by media in Switzerland with speculation mounting about when the supercar will be seen in the mountain country.

RM Auctions, which organized the sale, said the buyer wanted to remain anonymous.

The car was previously owned by Eddie Smith Jr., the son of Eddie Smith Sr., an American multi-millionaire from North Carolina who bought the car new in 1968 after travelling to the Ferrari plant in Modena in northern Italy.

With a 3,866cc V-12 engine and five-speed transmission, the two-seater was only one of 10 such models made, according to RM Auctions on its website.

Another was used in the Thomas Crown Affair, a movie starring Steve McQueen, who drove the Ferrari and liked it so much he bought the same model himself.

Eddie Senior bought other Ferraris and enjoyed driving them from Italy through Switzerland to Paris before arranging for their shipment to America, RM Auctions said.

After he died in 2007, the car was kept in a special hangar and was subsequently restored “to the highest standards”.

His son said it was difficult parting with the Ferrari but the family “decided the care needs to be somewhere where it can be seen and appreciated”.

No information is yet available on where — or if — the car will be on public display in Switzerland.