THE CAR THAT BIRTHED A LEGEND…By RM Sotheby´s

THE CAR THAT BIRTHED A LEGEND: ALFONSO DE PORTAGO’S FERRARI 250 GT BERLINETTA COMPETIZIONE ‘TOUR DE FRANCE’ TO HEADLINE RM SOTHEBY’S PARIS AUCTION

• One of the most legendary and historically significant of all Ferrari competition cars will lead RM Sotheby’s Paris auction, taking place on 28 January 2026
• Winner of the 1956 Tour de France Auto; the actual namesake car for which the “Tour de France/TdF” name was instituted
• This exact chassis is the only known car to single-handedly change the name of its own model range following its monumental victory in the period’s most challenging race
• Ferrari Classiche certified with full matching numbers.

(London, England) – RM Sotheby’s returns to its traditional home at the Louvre Palace’s spectacular Salles du Carrousel on 28 January 2026 for the 13^th running of Europe’s premier collector car auction in Paris, and will feature one of the most highly significant competition Ferraris of all time.

The auction will be led by the 1956 Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta Competizione ‘Tour de France’ by Scaglietti, a car which placed 1st overall at the 1956 Tour de France Automobile and is the the actual car that instituted the “Tour de France/TdF” nomenclature; raced and owned by the legendary Marquis Alfonso de Portago, it is the fifth of only seven Scaglietti-bodied first-series competition berlinettas. 

Unquestionably one of the finest sports competition Ferraris ever created, the model experienced its greatest success at the Tour de France Auto in September, a six-day rally of hill climbs, drag races, and circuit competitions where in 1956 this chassis was piloted by a flamboyant and daring Marquis de Portago, Godson of Alfonso XIII, who reigned as the king of Spain for nearly 50 years until the 1930s. Portago was recruited as a Ferrari driver in early 1956 and in September of that year he won the Tour de France Automobile in chassis number 0557GT—the first of four consecutive victories for the mighty 250 GT Berlinetta model at the French race—with his victory establishing both the legend and the TdF namesake. This historic car is offered on the 70^th anniversary of its most famous victory.

Chassis 0557GT, the most important Tour de France example of the long-wheelbase 250 GT, is the ninth of 14 first-series cars and the seventh of only nine to be clothed in Scaglietti’s louvre-less coachwork. Sold to de Portago on 23 April 1956, the car took some months to prepare, with original build sheets showing the specification of the rear axle on 28 August and the powerful Tipo 128B engine on 10 September. Registered with Italian tags reading BO 69211 and wearing race number 73, the car was ready to take on Europe’s most difficult endurance race of the 1950s/60s. Following the car’s famous victory in the Tour de France Auto, de Portago drove the Berlinetta to a 1st overall finish at the Coupes du Salon at Montlhéry, while two weeks later the car achieved a 1st in class finish at the Rome Grand Prix. Portago’s final triumph in this car came the following year at the Coupes USA on 7 April, where he once again took 1st overall, achieving an undefeated period competition history for this magnificient chassis.

Chassis 0557GT has passed through the hands of a number of highly respected Ferrari collectors, and has further enhanced its provenance with a 1^st in class at the prestigious Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in 1994, becoming the only known Ferrari chassis to achieve a perfect period competition history and a 1^st in class at Pebble Beach. In January 2026 the car was awarded Red Book certification by Ferrari Classiche, and was confirmed to be a fully matching-numbers example having retained its original engine, gearbox, rear axle, and bodywork. Undoubtedly the most important of all the 250 GT Tour de France examples, this influential long-wheelbase Berlinetta is estimated in execess of €13.000.000.

More to read of this and other Auctions at THE FINE GUIDE – ART

Paris Auction by RM Sotheby´s