Ferrari's halo-car market has moved rapidly over the past 18 months. An F50 reset the benchmark at $12.21 million in January 2026, while an Enzo followed with a spectacular $17.88 million result at the same sale, both establishing new public auction records. The next model under the spotlight is the car that started Maranello's modern supercar legacy in the 1980s: the Ferrari 288 GTO.
Conceived as a Group B homologation special, the 288 GTO became Ferrari's first limited-production supercar after the championship's cancellation. It established a formula that continues to define every halo Ferrari, from the F40 and F50 to the Enzo, LaFerrari and F80. It is also the rarest of them all. Ferrari built just 272 examples, fewer than any of its successors. Despite its historical importance and scarcity, the 288 GTO has yet to cross the $10 million threshold at public auction. That may be about to change.
RM Sotheby's Monterey sale in August offers one of the finest examples to emerge in years. Chassis 54789, the 99th production car built, has covered just 1,541 kilometres from new and is believed to be one of perhaps six or fewer surviving examples with fewer than 1,000 miles. It spent more than 20 years in a single world-class Ferrari collection, carries Ferrari Classiche Red Book certification confirming its matching-numbers engine and gearbox, and underwent a complete mechanical recommissioning by Ferrari of Central Florida between 2022 and 2024 after decades of careful storage. Originally delivered in Germany in 1985, the car later joined the collection of Eckhard Bluhm alongside an F40, F50, Enzo and Michael Schumacher's Ferrari F300 Formula 1 car. Throughout its life, the mileage scarcely changed while the car remained exceptionally well preserved.
The 288 GTO has always occupied a unique position within Ferrari's history. With record prices pulling the F50 and Enzo into new territory, and with only 272 GTOs ever built, it would hardly be a surprise if the model finally joins the eight-figure club. Chassis 54789 has every credential to become the first.
Monterey, 15 Aug
