Sorry, but this 1965 Ferrari 330 GT breadvan just wins
Wrap it up, folks. The award for funkiest, coolest, most debonair touring car for sale is a done deal, and this 1965 Ferrari 330 GT 2+2 shooting brake is taking home the hardware. For its capacious cargo area, no less, because it is a breadvan of unspeakable practicality and grace. And in case you didn’t notice, it’s also brown, because there is indeed a higher power and it is generous and beneficent.
This car may have started as a Ferrari 330 GT 2+2 when it first rolled off the production line in Maranello, but in those days it was red and merely a very attractive touring car. Its best years were ahead. Originally delivered to and sold by—wait for it—Luigi Chinetti Motors in Greenwich, Connecticut, Chinetti Jr. bought the car back from the first owner and returned it to Italy so the body maestros at Vignale could get weird with it.
Along with the breadvan body and revised trim touches, the car also received metallic green paint with a gold roof, a new 300-horsepower V-12 engine with three Weber carbs, and a place at Vignale’s stand at the 50th annual Turin Motor Show in 1968. Given that people basically hated the 330 GT Series I’s quad headlights, it’s no surprise Chinetti Jr. and Vignale opted for a set of horizontal bars to hide the original front-end lighting.
Chinetti Jr. held on to the car until 1990, then sold it to a man in France, who started the restoration process. It made the rounds at several shows and concours, before Grammy-winning musician Jay Kay of Jamiroquai bought it in 2011. It changed hands again in 2015, and received that fantastic bronze paint job in 2017.
It’s headed to no-reserve auction at the RM Sotheby’s Petersen Museum sale on December 8. This Ferrari is a pretty special one-off, and RM Sotheby’s says it might even be the last Ferrari to receive Vignale coachwork.
So what’s it worth? In general, quality shooting brake rebodies of vintage exotics can command big bucks compared to the regular versions. Thus far, RM Sotheby’s hasn’t announced a pre-sale estimate, but the #2-condition (Excellent) price for the standard, non-breadvan 1965 Ferrari 330 GT 2+2 is $265,000, while the #1-condition (Concours) price is $315,000. But remember, this is a one-off. It last appeared at auction at Gooding & Company’s 2017 Pebble Beach event, where it hammered not sold at $475,000, well shy of the $700,000 low estimate.
Even better, the car was well cared for but not totally pristine—those seats look like they’ve actually had some butts in them, which means the Ferrari was hopefully driven somewhat regularly. I could keep that streak going, taking it for weekend drives, trips to Home Depot, and obviously to the bakery, where’d I’d fill the cargo area with hundreds of Italian rolls and lay in it like it’s a ball pit at IKEA, because that’s what you do with a breadvan.
All I know is I want it. Real bad.
