Bonhams is perhaps the most reserved of the major collector car auctions, all proper British, you know. But it is so excited about a car on the docket for its September 10 sale at Chateau de Chantilly in France, its news release crows that the car crossing the block could be the most exciting Ferrari-based concept car ever built.
The car is the 1989 Ferrari 328 Conciso. But it wasn’t created until 1993, and it wasn’t done by Ferrari but by the Bernd Michalak Design Studio in Germany.
Conciso is the Italian word for concise and to the point, Bonhams notes, adding that Michalak’s philosophy is that a sports car should be athletic, with not an extra ounce of unneeded mass.
The concept was built around a 1989 Ferrari 328 GTS. It has a lightweight aluminum and roadster-style body. There are no doors, roof or roll bar. Driver and passenger climb into the car and where helmets which are stored in compartments on either side of the car.
The car’s overall weight was reduced by 30 percent from the 328 GTS, Bonhams said. The reduction enables the car’s 3.2-liter, 270 horsepower V8 to propel it to 62 mph in 5 seconds and achieve a top speed of 278 km/h (172.7 mph).
The car was unveiled at the 1993 Frankfurt Motor Show and was shown again the following spring at the Geneva show. Michalak called the car his three-dimensional business card.
It has been driven only rarely, Bonhams said. Primarily, it was part of the sitting room furnishings in the owner’s home in Belgium. It was most recently displayed at the Ferrari 70th Anniversary event at the Autoworld Museum in Brussels, Belgium.
Michalak sold the car after its Geneva showing to a collector in North America. In 1998, it was sold at a Brooks auction in Geneva. The consignor purchased the car in the summer of 1999 and the car went to Belgium.
The car was licensed for use on the street in 2014 and its CONCISO license plate is included in the sale.
The car is being offered at the auction without reserve.
