RM Sotheby’s will return to the Louvre Palace’s Salles du Carrousel on 28 January 2026 for the 13th edition of its Paris collector car auction, led by one of the most historically significant of all competition Ferraris.
The car is the 1956 Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta Competizione ‘ Tour de France’ by Scaglietti, chassis 0557GT, which placed first overall at the 1956 Tour de France Automobile and is the car that gave the ‘ Tour de France’ name to the model range. Raced and owned by the Marquis Alfonso de Portago, it is the fifth of only seven Scaglietti-bodied first-series competition berlinettas.
De Portago was recruited as a Ferrari driver in early 1956, and in September of that year he won the Tour de France Automobile, a six-day rally of hill climbs, drag races, and circuit events, in chassis 0557GT. It was the first of four consecutive victories for the 250 GT Berlinetta at the French race and established both the car’s legend and the TdF name. Chassis 0557GT is the ninth of 14 first-series cars and the seventh of only nine clothed in Scaglietti’s louvre-less coachwork.
Sold to de Portago on 23 April 1956, the car was registered with Italian tags reading BO 69211 and wore race number 73. After its Tour de France victory, de Portago drove it to first overall at the Coupes du Salon at Montlhéry and, two weeks later, to a first-in-class finish at the Rome Grand Prix. His final win in the car came at the Coupes USA on 7 April 1957, again taking first overall and completing an undefeated period competition record.
Chassis 0557GT has passed through several respected Ferrari collectors and added a first-in-class at the 1994 Pebble Beach Concours d’ Elegance to its history. In January 2026 it was awarded Red Book certification by Ferrari Classiche, confirmed as fully matching-numbers with its original engine, gearbox, rear axle, and bodywork.
Offered on the 70th anniversary of its most famous victory, the car is estimated in excess of €13,000,000.
(Press Release)
