Maserati sets new auction record at Goodwood

The price achieved for the 300S Sports-Racing Spider shattered the previous Maserati auction record of _2,251,520 (AU$3,722,240) set in 2012.

The 300S auctioned was one of three originally ordered by Briggs Swift Cunningham, which the noted American collector donated to his old friend and team driver Bill Spear. Chassis #3053 made its race debut in the 1955 Sebring 12-Hours race, the American round of the FIA Sports Car World Championship, co-driven by Bill Spear and Sherwood Johnston. The pair finished third, beaten only by a Phil Hill-driven Ferrari and the winning Mike Hawthorn Jaguar D-Type.

After racing '3053' widely throughout the USA, Spear sold the car in 1956 to Joe Giubardo of Long Island, who owned it until 1964. Subsequently preserved by prominent Maserati authority Joel Eric Finn, '3053' was acquired by leading German Maseratisto Dr Thomas Bscher in 1986.

After some twenty years in his care - during which it was maintained in highly original order while being campaigned successfully in historic racing - the car passed from Dr Bscher to its present vendor in approximately 2006.

The Goodwood sale took place before a packed audience of more than 1,000 people, with bidders from 32 countries taking part. The record-setting Maserati was one of ten cars from this auction to sell for more than one million pounds, with the auction as a whole realising _36,072,464 (AU$59,899,769). This has set a new record to become the highest-grossing auction of motor cars ever held in Europe.

Further details at www.bonhams.com

Images: Bonhams, UK