This 1963 Ferrari GTO Is Now The Most Expensive Car Ever Sold, At $70M

A 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO, one of just 36 ever produced, reportedly changed hands in a private sale for $70 million, making it, at the time, the most expensive car ever sold.

The sale was confirmed by Marcel Massini, widely regarded as one of the world's foremost experts on collectible Ferraris. The reported $70 million price smashed the previous known record for a Ferrari 250 GTO, which had been set in 2013 when a different 1963 example sold for $52 million.

Massini believed the trend was far from over. Speaking at the time, he predicted that the market for these cars would continue climbing:

"We will see a GTO sell for $100 million in the next two to three years … I have little doubt."

It is not hard to understand why the Ferrari 250 GTO occupies such a mythic place in the collector-car world. Built between 1962 and 1964, the car combined rarity, beauty, racing pedigree, and Ferrari mystique in a way few automobiles ever have. It was designed to compete at the highest levels of international sports car racing, and it quickly became one of the defining performance machines of its era.

The GTO was not simply beautiful. It was successful. These cars won on the track, looked spectacular doing it, and were produced in numbers small enough to make ownership nearly impossible for anyone outside the very top tier of collectors. That combination has made the 250 GTO the crown jewel of Ferrari collecting for decades.

Mike Hewitt /Allsport

The buyer in this case was David MacNeil, the founder and CEO of WeatherTech. MacNeil made his fortune in one of the least flashy automotive-adjacent businesses imaginable: floor mats. Starting in the late 1980s, he built WeatherTech into a powerhouse by selling premium car floor liners and accessories, eventually turning the company into a major American manufacturing success story.

MacNeil was already known within collector circles as a serious Ferrari enthusiast. But the $70 million GTO purchase elevated him into one of the most exclusive automotive clubs in the world. Other known Ferrari 250 GTO owners have included fashion mogul Ralph Lauren, Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll, and Walmart heir Rob Walton. It is not an official club, of course, but given the scarcity of the cars and the fortunes required to acquire one, the group functions as one of the most elite circles in car collecting.

The car MacNeil purchased reportedly had previously belonged to German collector Christian Gläsel, another member of the rarefied GTO ownership world. Gläsel is believed to have acquired the vehicle in 2003 for an undisclosed price. Given the way Ferrari 250 GTO values exploded over the following 15 years, it is safe to assume the sale produced an extraordinary return.

For MacNeil, the purchase was more than an expensive trophy. It was the ultimate expression of a lifelong passion for cars. And in a way, it brought his story full circle: a businessman who became a billionaire by helping people protect the interiors of ordinary cars used part of that fortune to buy one of the most extraordinary cars ever built.