For Ferrari fans, “Tour de France” means big money
While many are watching the cycling version of the Tour de France this month, motorsport historians know there was once a car race of the same name. Staged over multiple days and with stops at various tracks around the French countryside, the car race wasn’t all that different in format from the cycling race. (In fact, a contemporary version for vintage cars continues to be run under the name Tour Auto each year in April.) In the post-WWII period, Ferrari dominated the event with eight overall wins between 1951 and 1964.
So successful were they at the event that the long-wheelbase version of their competition Ferrari 250 GT was nicknamed the Tour de France (TdF). Other Ferraris that won the event included the 250 GT SWB (an evolution of the TdF) and the 250 GTO, which underlines how important the event was in establishing Ferrari’s legendary status.
The first time a Ferrari 250 GT TdF won the event was in 1956, with Alfonso de Portago driving. Sixty years later in 2016, to celebrate that win, Ferrari launched a special track-focused version of the Ferrari F12berlinetta coupe called the F12tdf. The original TdF and the new F12tdf both featured a V-12 up front, so the connection wasn’t too much of a stretch. While the original TdF won on the track, the new F12tdf quickly proved to be a winner in the market. We noted back in 2019 that the car was routinely trading for more than double its original $490,000 official list price.
The car has held up well in the market over the intervening four years as they continue to sell for more than $1m—such as this example that sold for $1,242,500 last January.
In the Hagerty Price Guide, the condition #1 (“Concours”) value for one is $1,450,000, which is up 16% since 2019.
As history sometimes repeats itself, the F12tdf might eventually be supplanted in value and prestige by a newer Ferrari, though it may not happen right away. For the 2022 model year, the 812 Competizione was launched as the successor to the tdf. Although the 812 isn’t included in the Hagerty Price Guide yet, we can look at Hagerty’s insurance policy data to see how the newest vehicles are performing in the market. Comparing the tdf to the 812 Competizione coupe shows the market still favors the older car. The new car still has yet to fully enter the secondary market, but the F12tdf has a 20 percent lead over the 2022 812 Competizione as of mid-2023.
The market also favors the F12tdf over the 2011 Ferrari 599 GTO, the high-performance version of the F12tdf’s immediate front-engine V-12 predecessor, the 599 GTB. Though the 599 GTO is also up a similar 16% since 2019, the current Hagerty Price Guide condition #1 value of that vehicle is $930,000, which is well short of the $1.45m value of the F12tdf.
Though the F12tdf finds itself in the middle of the Ferrari peloton—smack between the 812 Competizione and 599 GTO in terms of performance and production numbers—it currently holds the yellow leader’s jersey in the eyes of enthusiasts. Does it have what it takes to come out on top over the long ride? We’ll see.
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Via Insider
