A new world record for a car at auction was set this evening when a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO sold for $48,405,000 at an RM-Sotheby's auction in Monterey, California. The 56-year-old breaks the existing car auction record of $38.115 million set in 2014, also for a Ferrari 250 GTO.
The new record holding car (Ferrari 250 GTO #3413GT) has been owned for the last 18 years by Dr. Greg Whitten, the former Chief Software Architect for Microsoft.
![A new world record for a car at auction was set this evening when a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO sold for $48,405,000](https://assets.newatlas.com/dims4/default/1e25491/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1920x1080+0+0/resize/1440x810!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnewatlas-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Farchive%2F48-million-ferrari-250-gto-breaks-world-auction-record-1.png)
Whitten built the foundations upon which the Microsoft Office suite of applications (Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint) were constructed. A complete rundown on the car and the 250 GTO owners club can be found here.
![Automotive auction records have been toppling over the last 72 hours during Monterey Car Week, with a 1935 Duesenberg SSJ selling for $22 million. The Duesenberg SSJ is one of of just two made, with this car being owned by famous actor Gary Cooper, and being the world's fastest pre-WW2 road car. In selling for $22 million, the Duesenberg SSJ became the most valuable American car and the most valuable pre-WW2 car ever sold.](https://assets.newatlas.com/dims4/default/bd332f0/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1920x1080+0+0/resize/1440x810!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnewatlas-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Farchive%2F48-million-ferrari-250-gto-breaks-world-auction-record-3.png)
Automotive auction records have been toppling over the last 72 hours during Monterey Car Week, with a 1935 Duesenberg SSJ selling for $22 million. The Duesenberg SSJ is one of of just two made, with this car being owned by famous actor Gary Cooper, and being the world's fastest pre-WW2 road car.
In selling for $22 million, the Duesenberg SSJ became the most valuable American car and the most valuable pre-WW2 car ever sold.
![Prior to this week, only eight cars had ever sold for more than $20 million at auction, but in the last two days another three cars have now joined that elite club, with the third car being a 1963 Aston Martin DP215 GT Competition Prototype that sold for $21.455 million.](https://assets.newatlas.com/dims4/default/5fe5632/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1920x1079+0+0/resize/1440x809!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnewatlas-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Farchive%2F48-million-ferrari-250-gto-breaks-world-auction-record-4.jpg)
Prior to this week, only eight cars had ever sold for more than $20 million at auction, but in the last two days another three cars have now joined that elite club, with the third car being a 1963 Aston Martin DP215 GT Competition Prototype that sold for $21.455 million.