This rare Ferrari coupe was first owned by Hollywood heartthrob Steve McQueen and meticulously restored more than a decade ago with financial backing from an Australian racing star.
A Ferrari 275 GTB/4 which was first owned by Steve McQueen is due to head to auction in California later this year, following its most recent sale for more than $US10 million almost 10 years ago.
Listed by RM Sotheby’s, the 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 is one of 330 examples made between 1966 and 1968 with bodywork by iconic coachbuilding firm Scaglietti – though this particular car boasts the rare accolade of being first owned by Hollywood film star Steve McQueen.
By 1967, McQueen had already starred alongside some of the world’s leading actors in The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape, while his car-centric roles in Bullitt and Le Mans were yet to come.
McQueen had previously owned the convertible version of the Ferrari 275 GTB/4 – officially known as the N.A.R.T Spider – but after an accident befell the soft-top grand tourer, he purchased this red V12-powered coupe from Chic Vandagriff at Hollywood Sport Cars.
Though it was delivered to the actor with Nocciola (hazelnut) golden metallic paint, McQueen reportedly asked his mechanic Lee Brown – who had worked on the iconic Ford Mustang in Bullitt – to change its colour to red, creating a colour known as ‘Chianti Red’.
A number of parts from the Ferrari 275 GTB/4 N.A.R.T Spider were transferred to the coupe, including its Borrani wire wheels and bespoke wing mirror, before McQueen ultimately sold the car to fellow actor Guy Williams in 1971.
Between 1971 and 2009, the Ferrari changed hands multiple times, eventually ending up in the UK as a silver car before Vern Schuppan, a retired Australian racing driver, bought the coupe at the end of the 2000s.
Schuppan – a former Formula One driver and 1983 24 Hours of Le Mans winner – purchased the 275 GTB/4 with the intention of restoring it to McQueen’s exact specifications, which resulted in the South Australian sending the car to Ferrari for a nut-and-bolt restoration.
The process included Ferrari’s in-house restoration program – known as Classiche – first painting the 275 GTB/4 in its original Nocciola paintwork before it was sprayed over in ‘Chianti Red’, using a swatch which Lee Brown provided to the Italian restorers.
After a stint in the Museo Ferrari in Maranello, Italy and Petersen Automotive Museum in California, Schuppan sold the 275 GTB/4 at an RM Sotheby’s auction in August 2014 for an eye-watering $US10,175,000 including fees – equivalent to almost $US12,975,000 or $AU19,130,000 today.
RM Sotheby’s is due to feature Steve McQueen’s Ferrari in its Monterey auction once again in August 2023, though it is yet to provide an estimate of how much the classic coupe could sell for.
Despite its McQueen connection, this red coupe isn’t the most expensive Ferrari 275 ever sold.
In August 2013, a Ferrari 275 GTB/4 N.A.R.T Spider sold for $US27,500,000 ($AU52.5 million today) after it was purchased by Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll, who currently owns Aston Martin and whose son, Lance, drives from the brand’s Formula One team.
McQueen amassed his fortune as a movie star in the 1960s and 1970s, and spent much of his earnings on exotic cars and motorcycles.
At the peak of his career it was estimated McQueen was one of Hollywood’s highest paid actors.
He died in 1980 at the age of 50 after undergoing experimental medical procedures in Mexico to treat cancer.
The year prior, McQueen had been diagnosed with mesothelioma, a cancer linked to asbestos exposure which, according to overseas reports, could have been a result of the material used in fire-proof race suits at the time.
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