Ferrari turns 70

Ferrari has been making a lot of noise about turning 70 this year: limited-edition cars; two-day cavalcades of classic cars; three-day cavalcades of modern cars; a charity auction (at which a secret buyer bought a limited-edition supercar for $10 million); weekend-long race meetings; big logos on its F1 drivers’ overalls and its F1 cars.

And now, opening next month at the Design Museum in Kensington, what is effectively a ‘retrospective’, an opportunity granted to few – if any – other creators of automobiles. Can Ferraris be considered art? Under the Skin – a trove of memorabilia mined from collector Ronald Stern’s astonishing possessions, which opens on 15 November – doesn’t explicitly ask we should.

But at its heart are 13 Ferraris – ranging from a 125S 1947 Replica, the first Ferrari, to a 2017 LaFerrari Aperta (identical to the star lot in the charity auction) – static and silent, removed from the context and purpose of their creation. How else are we to regard them, if not as art, given they are incapable of leaving those looking on unmoved and most will regard them as downright beautiful?

In the last 10 years, the classic car market has remodelled itself along the lines of the art market: specialist departments, showrooms in the most expensive parts of town, personality and collection-based ‘event auctions’. Prices have gone stellar – and Ferrari prices interstellar, increasing five-fold over 10 years and putting the most sought-after models the far side of $50m.

Source: Ferrari turns 70: The makings of the sexiest car in history