This $220K Barn-Find Ferrari Paced Le Mans When Ford Finally Won It in 1966

The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the world’s most famous and prestigious sports car race for a reason. It’s fast. It’s grueling. It’s unpredictable. And then there’s the history. Held (almost) annually since 1923, Le Mans has produced endless drama, intrigue, upsets, even tragedy. One of the most famous runnings of the French endurance classic was in 1966 when, after two years of trying and millions of dollars spent, Ford finally broke Ferrari’s stranglehold on the race with a sweep of the top three places. The story has been told a million times in books, endless articles, and a Hollywood movie, and one part is often overlooked: The official pace car. It was, ironically, a Ferrari, and that very car—grimy, dusty, and not in running condition—just sold at French auctioneer Aguttes’ sale in Paris for €200,676 ($219,692).

The model in question is a 330 GT 2+2, one of Ferrari’s larger, roomier, four-seat offerings. It debuted in 1964 with a 4.0-liter Colombo V-12, overdrive four-speed gearbox, and Pininfarina styling that was mostly clean and understated, aside from the four massive, polarizing headlights. Ferrari quickly updated the 330 GT 2+2 in 1965, and the Series II model sported a much more conventional two-headlight face and a new five-speed ‘box. At that year’s Paris Motor Show, it was reportedly this car, chassis number 07557GT, that showed off the 330 GT’s hot new look on the Ferrari stand alongside a 275 GTB and a 275 GTS.

The first owner of the Verde Scuro (dark green) over beige coupe was Franco Britannic, France’s official Ferrari importer, who used the car as a test vehicle for customers and the press. The boss at Franco Britannic was a man named Donald Sleator, who also happened to be the pace car driver for the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, organizers of the race at Le Mans. Sleator managed to use one of his business’s Ferraris as the official pace car every year at Le Mans from 1960 to ’67, and for ’66 he used 07557GT.

The dark green Ferrari led the field on pace duties, Henry Ford II waved the flag to start the race, and the rest is history. After its brief time in the spotlight, the 330 passed through a string of French owners. By the ’70s it had sold to Calvados, in Normany. At some point there it had a rear-end collision, then received a repaint in light blue and an usual bespoke set of triple rear lights. In 1977 it sold to someone Aguttes refers to as “Mr. A” for 29,000 francs. By this time the car’s Paris Motor Show and Le Mans history had been forgotten, and Mr. A simply used it as one would any old used GT car.

Mr. A reportedly passed in 2000, and the car remained on the family chateau, where someone would start it up a few times a year but otherwise left it alone. Four years ago, the V-12 finally refused to fire up and the car continued to sit. Other than the repaint and special taillights, it’s totally original. Aguttes left the dust on for the photo shoot, emphasizing the barn find (OK, chateau find) condition and just-discovered mystique.

The pace car will, of course, need a full restoration. Given its nice history, a return to its stock appearance and colors is a no-brainer. But the buyer didn’t account for resto bills in their bidding. Including buyer’s premium (not to mention any applicable VAT or import costs), the $220K final price is slightly above the #3 (“Good”) value in the Hagerty Price Guide for a 330 GT 2+2 SII. All Enzo-era Ferraris are valuable, but the four-seaters occupy the bottom rungs of the ladder. This model’s #1 (“Concours”) value is $335,000, and it’s hard to see 07557GT being worth much more than that any time soon after restoration. That said, let’s hope it gets the treatment it deserves and gets it soon. Maybe we’ll even get to see it out at a vintage race doing pace car duties again.