Is this car a work of art?
Nigel Wrench writes: "It's a Ferrari 250GT SWB California Spyder, 1963 model. But then you knew that. Being auctioned tonight in London. As you can see from this sticker on the front window it's a bit dear. Up to £3.5 million is what they are hoping for. Who's got that today?
The classic car market, like the art market, has been booming. Chris Evans, our Radio 2 colleague, bought a similar car, albeit one once owned by the actor James Coburn, earlier this year for £5, 598, 208. His is black, rather than the more traditional red.
The Financial Times noted at the time of the Evans sale: "classic cars have now been afforded the status of rolling art".
Can something produced in a factory be a work of art? I'll be live on PM tonight with Stephen Bayley, the design critic and car fan, who argues it can. And Sarah Thornton, art critic and author, who says it can't.
Maybe if day-to-day use of the car becomes both socially unacceptable and financially prohibitive, cars will become art objects, to be admired in a museum, relics of a different age.
Or perhaps these extraordinary prices are a sign of a cultural decadence that is now also in the past. Thoughts?
And a couple more shots to show what you'd get for the money. The roof is included. But the mechanic, useful though he might be, is not.
Listen to PM
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~46~RS~)
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Up to £3.5 million is what they are hoping for. Who's got that today?
Porsche?
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That is a very nice looking car!
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It's certainly classy, but IMO not worth anything like three and a half million.
Now, if only Ferrari's current designers had half the sense of style that the people behind that thing had.
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It's art. More so than half a pickled cow or Ms Emin's bed. The fact that is is alos a means of transport makes it no less art than Ms Emin's bed is a place to sleep. You can make love in both but, in the car, you have to put the gear stick in first.
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I word: to answer your question: YES
JacquesEGH (TR5 owner, but would (just) swap it for one of these).
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It's only a car - get a life.
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Sarah Thorton,an art critic, said that a car would not be considered a work of art because it is not thought provoking. However, if an artist, she said , purchased the car then it could be open for discussion as a piece of art?
Surely, an i pod may be considered a work of art because of the way it looks but it might not be thought provoking, a building can be work of art because an architect has designed it and so on. Are we saying that it is only art when we are told it is? Any one can see that this Ferrari, is thought provoking, beautiful and would be a priced possession. A work of art in my book.
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No. Just design and engineering. This is the real thing, not a interpreted expression of reality.
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The Ferrari in the picture IS a work of art, truely a thing of beauty but personally speaking, it doesn't hold a candle to the 250GTO, the GTO is by far the prettiest car ever built and I don't think anyone will ever be able to top it but if anyone can, it will be Farrari.
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No, but the black one Chris Evan £5M is!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/1983459/Chris-Evans-pays-and1635m-for-vintage-Ferrari.html
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If this is a work of art and I brought it from a gallery, what size hooks would I hang it from my wall with?
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Marcus: Some very big ones?
Plus a couple of RSJs on the other side of the wall to help maintain it's (the wall's) structural integrity...
Getting it in through the door might also be a little problematic...
But OTOH, if you've got enough money to buy one of these, you've probably also got enough money to build a suitable display space for it...and bribe enough councillors to get it through planning :)
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Good morning Marcus- Phwar- I'd have this car even if it's not in racing green! Look - there's absolutely no room for my mother or the dozens of ASDA shopping bags, as they say, that will do nicely! Oh, and the chrome, the chrome......
Cheerio for now
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Ps Marcus- lots and lots of sellotape and blue tack may do the job of displaying this beauty. May write to Blue Peter for some ideas!! What are you doing up at 2.45 am anyway??
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Yes.
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SSC No car is worth three and a half million. I wonder what the old light blue T-bird was going for.
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It's very beautiful but I bet there's only space for lipstick and a pair of nickers in that boot
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Hi Captain- I'm a bit of a pleb but what is a 250 GTO and does it go better than a T reg Almera- oh and can I fit my shopping (including knickers) in it's boot!!!
Byeeeeeeeeeee
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Nigel is making enquiries about how much the car went for. Stand by.
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valiantkate, no room for shopping or other? An ex and I used to go to the cash and carry in her MX-5. Yes, it was a bit of struggle, but we did it.
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A genuine work of automobile art celebrated its sixtieth birthday on September 20th.
http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/3689134.Morris_Minor_is_60_years_old/
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And there's a new thread on this with an update...
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Yes, it is art. Of the highest form.
And, a testament to the sublime arts of; man's ingenuity in automobile; design, engineering, craftsmanship and, when raced, driving skill...
No other marque has achieved as much, or as much acclaim, for its entire body of work as Ferrari.
The Guggenheim Museum (New York), for example, has exhibited (on-loan) world class race winning Ferrari's on more than one occassion.
As for value, well, I'd actually rather have funds invested in the car in question than gold or any other investment "vehicle", at present...
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Gossipmistress@17
"It's very beautiful but I bet there's only space for lipstick and a pair of nickers in that boot"
A presumption on my part, I know, but I presume you used the abbreviated spelling of "knickers" because of the lack of boot-space..?
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Piper (24) absolutely... or maybe that tyoe of driver just wears very brief nickers!
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PMHugh (21) Thanks for that link - I used to get a lift to my first job in an old Traveller which had toadstools growing out of the wooden window frame.
I was very grateful, until the day the brakes failed as were going down a hill towards traffic lights which were on red.....
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(26)
My goodness! a post from "the other side"
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JacquesEGH (27) WooooOOOOooooo!
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