A 1993 Ferrari F40 LM prepared by Michelotto sold for $11 million at RM Sotheby’s during Monterey Car Week, outpacing its $8.5 million to $9.5 million estimate and ranking as the auction house’s second-priciest lot of the week. The result placed the scarlet, race-bred Ferrari among the top sales at this year’s vintage-car showcase, which concluded Sunday.
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The LM is the 14th of just 19 F40s converted by famed Ferrari collaborator Giuliano Michelotto, according to RM Sotheby’s. Delivered new to Swiss collector Walter Hagmann of St. Moritz, the car’s early story includes a private-testing crash soon after delivery. Michelotto repaired the car, and it later appeared in the July 1993 issue of Swiss magazine Auto Illustrierte. The F40 LM subsequently logged competition use and passed through several owners, including a Las Vegas real-estate developer, a German dealer and an Austrian collector, before returning to the block in Monterey.
Ferraris drove many of the week’s headline numbers. RM Sotheby’s top lot was a 2025 Ferrari Daytona SP3 “Tailor Made” that achieved $26 million, with proceeds earmarked for charity. Across town, Gooding Christie’s realized $25.3 million for a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider Competizione at its Pebble Beach Auctions, a new auction record for the California Spider model and among the most valuable Ferraris ever sold publicly. The previous California Spider benchmark stood at €16.3 million ($18.6 million) from 2015, according to classic-car insurer Hagerty.
The $11 million F40 LM result underscores continued appetite for limited-production Ferraris with clear provenance and period competition ties, even when their histories include damage and repairs documented by factory-linked specialists. Michelotto’s small-run LM conversions—lighter, sharper and built for track duty—have long commanded a premium over road-spec F40s, reflecting their rarity and motorsport DNA.
With seven- and eight-figure prices concentrated around blue-chip marques and low-mileage or historically significant examples, this year’s Monterey sales reinforced the market’s tilt toward modern-era collectibles and race-derived specials. For Ferrari faithful, the week delivered a familiar storyline: unique specification and well-documented histories still move paddles—and push records—in Pebble Beach.
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