1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4*S NART Spider (chassis 10453, Ex-Steve McQueen)

Ferrari built the 275 GTB/4 as a berlinetta. An open car of that generation was not on the options list. The NART Spider exists because Luigi Chinetti — North American importer and North American Racing Team principal — wanted something Maranello had not offered, and Ferrari agreed to a short Scaglietti series. Public marque tallies put the run at ten cars for 1967–68. That is Path C without special pleading: factory coachwork, one-of-N where N ≤ 10, never a dealer catalog item.

Chassis 10453 is the sixth of those ten. Registry and sale coverage agree it left Scaglietti in September 1967 finished in Blu Sera — one of only two NART Spiders in that factory evening blue — before Chinetti invoiced it through Hollywood Sport Cars. In November 1967 it was delivered new to Steve McQueen. Diligence note: celebrity adjacency alone does not clear this board. Delivery ownership with a continuous public chain does.

What McQueen did next is the provenance, not a defect sheet. He had Junior Conway’s House of Color repaint the car a darker metallic blue and Tony Nancy retrim the seats to a stitching pattern he chose. After a Pacific Coast Highway rear-end, the car returned to House of Color; period changes include an exterior filler and a raised rear spoiler before another paint cycle. Serious buyers should treat those McQueen-period alterations as identity — a factory-correct restoration would erase the only unrepeatable layer this chassis carries. Public coverage of the Gooding offering frames the car as preserved rather than restored, with matching-numbers engine and transaxle claimed; Ferrari Classiche status should be confirmed when the October catalogue lands.

Ownership after McQueen is short and documented in open Ferrari registries: J. David Kopf of Tujunga from 1971; from 1986 a long private collection entered through Long Island dealer Grand Prix SSR (Anthony Wang in period exhibition notes). Public appearances are sparse by design — Louis Vuitton Classic at Rockefeller Center in 1996, and the 2003 La Bella Macchina Ferrari exhibition at the Chrysler Museum of Art — then decades out of the auction stream. Rétromobile New York is framed as this chassis’s first public auction.

Score 96 — Ultra-rare. Production is ceiling Path C (ten Spiders); specification is full NART open coachwork plus rare Blu Sera factory start; provenance is documented first-owner McQueen with continuous custody and exhibition trail; documentation is strong in public registries with an honest haircut until Classiche language appears in the full catalogue; market appearances of any NART Spider are exceptional, and this chassis has never hammered publicly; condition points credit unrestored McQueen-period finish without pretending the car is a static Concours virgin. Marque note: Ferrari is already Live via the Matte Nero Enzo — two of seven after rotate is 28.6%, under the 30% rolling marque cap; the stories do not overlap (factory matte one-of vs Chinetti Spider / McQueen custody).

Status: Live catalog pointer — Gooding Christie’s Rétromobile New York, 20–21 November 2026, Javits Center. Full lot text expected late October; re-verify URL and estimate before newsletter. Live-cap note: rotate CLK DTM RS00-001 (91) or Nobody’s Fool Mustang chassis 23 (91) — tied lowest Ultras; this machine is clearly rarer. Prefer Mustang exit if Ops wants Ford share free for the Kendall Trans-Am later; either rotate is valid.

Watcher’s checklist

1. Wait for the late-October Gooding catalogue — confirm Classiche certification language, condition report, and any addenda before treating press estimates as final.
2. Match chassis/engine 10453 on the car to Massini / registry notes and the auction file.
3. Separate factory Blu Sera delivery from the McQueen darker-blue / Tony Nancy interior — do not demand a factory-correct restoration narrative.
4. Independent inspection for matching major components claimed as original; accident and spoiler/filler history are diligence, not gossip.
5. Model buyer’s premium and New York logistics on a $15–20M estimate — estimate is not hammer.
6. Re-check Gooding lot status before you act.