The valuable car collection of the godfather of Formula 1 could be yours

Imagine experiencing the early years of the now global sporting event Formula 1 and getting the chance to own some of the greatest racing cars that have graced the pinnacle of motorsport. That’s Bernie Ecclestone for you, and he’s now ready to let go of his valuable and carefully preserved and maintained Formula 1 car collection – the best ever assembled and put up for sale.

Ferrari

Ferrari is an Italian manufacturer of sports cars, supercars and luxury grand tourers founded by and named after Enzo Ferrari in 1939 – originally as Auto Avio Costruzioni due to legal complications with Alfa Romeo. Famously, Ferrari only produced road sports cars to finance its racing successes, which included multiple F1 world championships as well as victories at Le Mans and various other prestigious races. Today, Ferrari is one of the most valuable brand names in the world, limiting production of its sought-after models to maintain desirability, which is not in short supply when they are powered by some of the world’s most advanced V6, V8 and V12 engines.

Founded

1939 (as car Avio Costruzioni)

founder

Enzo Ferrari

headquarters

Maranello, Italy

Owned by

Publicly traded

Current CEO

Benedetto Vigna

Bernie Ecclestone is also known for his other exquisite cars such as the extremely rare Jaguar D-Type racing car and is often referred to as the “Godfather of Formula 1”. He started out with the Connaught team in the 1950s, but his influence grew as he bought and ran the Brabham team, winning victories with drivers such as Carlos Reutemann, Carlos Pace and Niki Lauda, ​​and securing F1 titles with Nelson Piquet. Ecclestone was also the one who promoted Gordon Murray to chief designer of the Brabham F1 team, leading to the creation of the iconic and utterly dominant “fan car” that inspired one of Murray’s most recent creations, the GMA T.50.

Formula 1 championship cars to win

As chairman of the Formula One Constructors’ Association, Ecclestone played a crucial role in transforming Formula One into a global phenomenon, working with the likes of Enzo Ferrari and Colin Chapman. He founded the Formula 1 Group in 1987 and managed the commercial rights of Formula 1 until 2017. He is now 94 years old and remains committed to the sport. He leaves behind a lasting legacy that helped make modern Formula 1 the international powerhouse it is today, even if not everyone at times agreed with the way he managed the sport.

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Ecclestone’s 69-strong Formula 1 car collection includes racing cars driven by legendary champions such as Mike Hawthorn, Niki Lauda and Michael Schumacher. There are also Brabham F1 racing cars, including a one-off Brabham-Alfa Romeo BT46B “fan car” that competed in and won the 1978 Swedish Grand Prix at Anderstorp. Many of these cars have never seen the light of day since Ecclestone bought them.

More historic cars in the collection

Ecclestone’s collection also includes some of the rarest Ferrari racing cars ever to hit the track, including the famous Thin Wall Special, which was the first Ferrari to ever beat Alfa Romeo. There’s also the 375 F1 that won the Italian Grand Prix by Alberto Ascari and the Dino racer that won the world championship by Mike Hawthorn. The latter was used by Ferrari for three seasons before being donated to the Henry Ford Museum.

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Exact details about Ecclestone’s car collection are currently under wraps, including the date Tom Hartley Jr. will begin selling them. Even the price wasn’t mentioned, but given the exclusivity and historical significance of these cars, they fall into the category where buyers don’t need to ask for a price.

Source:
Tom Hartley Jr