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In a scene from The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), Steve McQueen’s eponymous character is crossing the street when his attention is grabbed by a beautiful red convertible. The car in question was a rare 275 GTS/4 NART Spider belonging to his character’s romantic interest — and adversary — played by Faye Dunaway. McQueen’s experience with the Ferrari both on and off the set later inspired him to buy his own 275. And with this gorgeous dark red 275 GTS/4 NART Spider going up for auction next month, you too can own one of the greatest cars Ferrari has ever built.
The decision to build the NART Spider didn’t come from Ferrari boss Enzo Ferrari, but rather Luigi Chinetti, the three-time 24 Hours of Le Mans driver who earned Ferrari its first win at the famed race in 1949. Chinetti went on to become the first importer and dealer of Ferrari cars in North America and later started the North American Racing Team, Ferrari’s official Stateside racing team. To boost sales of the 275 in America, Chinetti felt a drop-top version of the car was in order. He convinced Enzo to produce a run of 25. As it would turn out, the NART Spider wasn’t quite the sales success Chinetti thought it would be, and as such the production run was shortened to just 10, making it one of the rarest cars the Prancing Horse has ever made.
This particular version being auctioned off by RM Sotheby’s was the last off the production line, and while the other nine cars were shipped and sold to American customers, this was the only version sold in Europe. RM estimates the car could sell for as much as $26 million. And considering another NART Spider was sold at auction in 2013 to the tune of $27.5 million (it was estimated to go for $17 million), that isn’t far fetched — for its rarity, its beauty and its iconic film cameo, it should be on the radar of Ferrari collectors everywhere.