In the mid 1930s, driving under the banner of Scuderia Ferrari, the legendary racer Tazio Nuvolari campaigned a 1935 Alfa Romeo 8C-35 Grand Prix car to considerable glory. This past weekend at Bonhams Goodwood Revival sale in England, the single-seat racer, later driven successfully by Hans Ruesch, won a victory of another sort when it achieved a price of $9.4m, a world record for an Alfa Romeo sold at auction.
The price was the second highest ever paid for a car at auction in Europe. It’s been eclipsed only by the $31.2m a buyer paid at this summer’s Goodwood ‘Festival of Speed’ auction for a 1954 Mercedes W196 that five-times world champion Juan Manuel Fangio drove to two Grand Prix victories. Another auction record at this weekend’s event was the $358,000 a buyer paid for a 1961 E-Type Series 1 convertible with a single-family ownership history and just 32,000 miles. The car had been estimated at ‘just’ $191,000-$223,000.
