Breaking News: Artcurial to auction Bardinon Collection 1957 Ferrari 335S

It’s red. It’s loud. It’s very, very fast.
 
And it could just become the most expensive car ever sold at auction next February in Paris when veteran Maître Hervé Poulain brings down the gavel on this ultra-rare Ferrari 335S from the famed Bardinon collection.
 
The fate of the Bardinon cars has been the subject of conjecture since French fur and leather trading tycoon Pierre Bardinon passed away three years ago, but this is the first major item from his pioneering Ferrari collection to be offered for public sale. French auction house Artcurial has published an estimate of $30-34 million, in line with the value of a ‘no stories’ 250 Testa Rossa, a better known but comparable model.

Experts would argue the four-cam 335S, with almost 400bhp, is even more exciting as it represents the final and most powerful evolution of Ferrari’s classic front-engined sports-racing line. This example, chassis ‘0674’, came second overall on the ’57 Mille Miglia driven by German aristocrat Wolfgang von Trips as a works entry. A sister car was crashed during the final stages of the event by Spanish marquis Alfonso de Portago with fatal results, bringing him and the Mille Miglia to an end and meaning just three of the four 335Ss built still survive.

We rate it highly. Let’s see what the market thinks, and who’s brave enough to write the cheque.
 
(PS - the auction buyer's premium alone at bottom estimate would be… wait for it… $4,362,400)

All photos courtesy Artcurial, incl. Ted Walker, Ferret Fotographic