Carroll Shelby’s exotic Ferrari is heading to auction

An exceedingly rare 1955 Ferrari 375 Plus is set to cross the auction block in Monterey in mid-August, expected to fetch between 5.5 and 7.5 million USD.

The listing claims that the car is one out of just seven examples running on a Tipo 113 V12 engine designed by Aurelio Lampredi. Furthermore, it is allegedly one of only two vehicles s in existence to make use of a prototype racing chassis known as the Tipo 102. The other Tipo 102 chassis went into possession of King Leopold III of Belgium in the mid-1950s, but it was given a convertible body not fit for motorsports.

In contrast, the car seen here – chassis number 0478 AM – went to a sports manager from the United States. It scored its first major racing victory in July 1955, driven by engineer Carroll Shelby who had yet to become famous at that point. Shelby crashed and sold it later.

The new owner had the 375 Plus completely refitted with custom Spider-style bodywork designed and fabricated by coachbuilder Jack Sutton, often called “the American Scaglietti” at the time. Later on, the same car was driven on the track by another rising star driver, Ken Miles.

It ultimately landed in a Ferrari collection in 1960 and proceeded to spend almost 25 years just sitting there. A new owner had it fully restored in the early ‘90s and passed it on in 1996. The current owner and seller, called a “world-class Ferrari collector” by the auction holder, has held onto it for the past 29 years.

Despite the extensive modifications that it has undergone over its several decades of life, the 375 Plus still features a stock 4.9-liter V12 mated to a stock transmission and rear axle. As such, in addition to being a valuable piece of automotive history, it presents a compelling opportunity for anyone willing to revert it to factory condition.