Niki Lauda became F1 world champion in a Ferrari in 1975 and 1977. However, he was already driving for the Scuderia in 1974 and was given a Ferrari 365 GT4 2+2 (chassis 17517) as his official car.
He obviously liked the coupé painted in Grigio Argento, as there are photos of him washing the car himself. Which F1 champion still washes his car himself today?
Despite the great pride of ownership, he soon passed on the car with its export license plates, presumably because there were too many problems with it at customs. The coupé passed through several hands, changed color to dark red métallic and was lost.
Eventually, the car resurfaced with its interesting history and modified paintwork and was auctioned off at a Dorotheum online auction from the end of November to December 7, 2022.
Bidding went through the roof in the last few minutes: in the end, the car fetched EUR 207,000, seven times the starting price and probably around two to three times the value that similar examples would achieve in today's market. Not a bad Lauda factor!
Incidentally, the red 340 hp speedster is staying in Austria: an Austrian online bidder won out over an international bidder. Will he leave the car in red or have it repainted in Grigio Argento?
Further information on the car can be found on the Dorotheum website. The auction was also announced in a blog on Zwischengas.
