- A 1955 Ferrari 410 S piloted Carroll Shelby is going for sale
- Shelby drove this 1955 Ferrari 410 S at the 1956 Palm Springs Road Races
- Pre-auction estimates put the car’s value at over $15 million
Before he started Shelby American in the early 1960s, Carroll Shelby was racing around the world in cars from other manufacturers, and not just American ones.
He famously drove to overall victory in the 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans in an Aston Martin DBR1, together with Roy Salvadori.
He also drove multiple Ferraris during the 1950s, including two examples of the four 410 S race cars developed to compete at the 1955 Carrera Panamericana before the race was called off. The two examples driven by Shelby are the two that Ferrari sold into private hands. The other two the automaker kept for its own factory team.
One of the two private cars, chassis no. 0598 CM, was sold at auction in 2022, fetching $22 million in the process. That car was also driven by the likes of Juan Manuel Fangio and Phil Hill.
1955 Ferrari 410 S bearing chassis no. 0592 CM – Photo via RM Sotheby’s
Now another example of the 410 S raced by Shelby, chassis no. 0592 CM, is headed to an RM Sotheby’s auction coinciding with next month’s 2024 Monterey Car Week. It doesn’t have the same provenance as chassis no. 0598 CM, hence its estimate only coming in at “over $15 million,” but it was still driven to victory by various drivers, including Shelby.
The highlight was a win at the 1956 Palm Springs Road Races, with Shelby behind the wheel. According to the listing, Shelby had a falling-out with the car’s owner, Tony Parravano of team Scuderia Parravano, shortly after the race and would soon end up joining a rival team run by John Edgar. It was with Edgar where Shelby would go on to make a string of victories behind the wheel of chassis no. 0598 CM.
The CM in the chassis code stood for “Carrera Messicana,” as the cars were developed for Mexico’s Carrera Panamericana race. They featured coachwork by Scaglietti, and chassis no. 0592 CM is arguably the most original of the four examples built. In addition to having a matching-numbers 5.0-liter V-12, the car was never damaged during its short racing career.
1955 Ferrari 410 S bearing chassis no. 0592 CM – Photo via RM Sotheby’s
According to the listing, Parravano fled to Mexico in 1957 due to tax reasons, and chassis no. 0592 CM went with him. Upon his death, the car was sold to Javier Velasquez, one of the organizers of the Mexican Grand Prix. The car was later acquired by Pennsylvania architect Robert Dusek in 1970, who held onto it for the next 37 years.
It was then acquired by the current owner at an auction in 2014, after which it was given a full restoration.
The RM Sotheby’s auction runs Aug. 15-17. Other highlights include a 2006 McLaren Formula 1 race car and a 1995 Ferrari F50.
