Manual Ferraris are always a treat in this paddle-infested world we are living in but would you pay almost $700K for a 2007 599 GTB, just because it has a gated shifter?
Well, one bidder did that, paying $682.000 (about £460.000 or €645.000) for a manual 599 GTB in Amelia Island’s RM Auction, almost half a million more than the estimated $200,000 – $275,000.
The car itself has covered less than 3.800 miles since its delivery from new in Portland, Oregon, making it one of the only 20 manual 599s to exist officially in the United States. Being considered as the last, analog Ferrari V12, the 599 GTB is using essentially a detuned version of the Enzo’s engine, making 620bhp at 7.600rpm with a top speed of 205mph.
With a black-on-black colour combination, the 599 GTB looks menacing enough, featuring the desirable Daytona-style seats made from Recaro. Its previous owner had it properly stored in a climate-controlled environment to ensure nothing bad will happen to it during its stay with him.
If you think that regular 599 GTBs with the paddle shifter go for about £100K (about $148K or €140K) in the UK and the extreme GTOs fetch around £400-500K (about $592K-740K or €560Κ-700Κ), paying that amount for a regular, manual 599 could only mean two things. Either the market will start to treat the last remaining manual Ferraris as a separate exclusive entity in their line-up, driving prices into ridiculous levels or the fortunate owner of this lovely manual 599 GTB will face a very unpleasant surprise when he decides to calculate again how much is the real cost of the car in the future.
We understand the exclusivity of it, being 1 of only 20 in the United States but is this rareness really worth $700K? It’s a ‘normal’ 599 after all.
What do you think?
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