Former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone will sell his extraordinary collection of historic Grand Prix and Formula 1 cars amassed over 50 years.
Ecclestone, 94, was for decades the commercial rights holder of Formula 1, and was therefore the man who made it the global sporting powerhouse that it is today and has engaged Tom Hartley Jnr Ltd..
It is fair to say that his collection of 69 historic Grand Prix and Formula 1 cars is the finest ever to have been assembled, and it is certainly the most impressive ever to have been offered for sale and likely to see them raise over £300Million.
Each and every one of Ecclestone’s 69 cars is unique, having been stored away from the public gaze, in some cases for more than half a century. Many of the cars have never been seen since Ecclestone purchased them.
Highlights are Ferraris raced in Formula 1 Grands Prix by legendary World Champions such as Mike Hawthorn, Niki Lauda, and Michael Schumacher, and Brabhams raced in Formula 1 Grands Prix by aces such as Nelson Piquet, Carlos Pace, and, again, Niki Lauda, among them the one-off Brabham-Alfa Romeo BT46B ‘fan car’, which raced only once, victoriously, to win the Swedish Grand Prix at Anderstorp in 1978 by more than half a minute.
Bernie Ecclestone said, “I have been collecting these cars for more than 50 years, and I have only ever bought the best of any example. Whilst many other collectors over the years have opted for sports cars, my passion has always been for Grand Prix and Formula 1 cars.
“A Grand Prix and in particular a Formula 1 car is far more important than any road car or other form of race car, as it is the pinnacle of the sport, and all the cars I have bought over the years have fantastic race histories and are rare works of art.
“I love all of my cars but the time has come for me to start thinking about what will happen to them should I no longer be here, and that is why I have decided to sell them. After collecting and owning them for so long, I would like to know where they have gone and not leave them for my wife to deal with should I not be around.
“Tom is handling the sale for me because he knows the cars better than anyone else, his business is best placed to sell them, and I am guaranteed transparency which is important to me.
“Having collected what are the best and most original Formula 1 cars dating back to the start of the sport, I have now decided to move them on to new homes that will treat them as I have and look after them as precious works of art.”
Tom Hartley Jnr responded, “This is quite simply the most important race car collection in the world. There has never been and probably never will be a collection like it ever offered for sale again.
“The collection spans 70 years of Grand Prix and Formula 1 racing, and highlights include Mike Hawthorn, Niki Lauda, and Michael Schumacher World Championship-winning Ferraris, all of Bernie’s Brabhams including the famous ‘fan car’, and the Vanwall VW10, the car in which the great Stirling Moss won several Formula 1 Grands Prix on the way to Vanwall clinching the first ever Formula 1 Constructors’ World Championship in 1958, plus so much more.
“But, for me, the highlight of the collection has to be the Ferraris. Bernie has assembled a collection of Ferrari Formula 1 cars that today would be near-impossible to repeat.
“There is the famous Thin Wall Special, which was the first Ferrari to ever beat Alfa Romeo, the Alberto Ascari Italian Grand Prix-winning 375 F1, the Mike Hawthorn World Championship-winning Dino which Ferrari campaigned over three seasons before it was donated to the Henry Ford Museum, plus historically significant World Championship-winning Niki Lauda and Michael Schumacher cars.”
