One of my absolute favorite Ferrari is coming up for sale.

I saw it at Villa d’Este two years ago and had the luxury of sitting next to the owner for dinner. We are talking about a 1961 Ferrari 250 SWB California spyder.

But not just any spyder. An open headlight car.

Only 16 of these cars were ever built and I personally think they are more beautiful than the closed headlight cars.

I normally favor closed headlight cars like on the 250 TDF, the 250 S1 Cabriolet Pininfarina (both cars look better with covered headlights) but on the 250 California – the car looks more harmonious with the open headlight version.

It is undisputed, this california spyder is among the most elegant cars Ferrari ever made, but many forget, they were also made for aggressive driving and racing (indeed a few california spyders did race for Ferrari). Ordered by request by John Von Neumann who was a Westcoast dealer for Ferrari, the California spyder was made, well you can guess it, for the California market in the 1950s.

The estimate of this beautiful and rare Ferrari (less than 105 SWB and LWB California spyders were made in total) is €11- 13m.

For the full description of this car please see link here.

I first got to see this beautiful Ferrari at Villa d’Este in 2013. The open headlights suits this car perfectly. The color is not original to the car and is a special color made by the owner (Mr. Caggiati)  called Lancia blu.

by Edmond Saran