VIN: the Niki Lauda Ferrari 288 GTO chassis 58329
History of chassis 58329
Chassis 58329 was the last 288 GTO built. Although Ferrari had originally planned to build just the 200 units required for Group B homologation, 272 were officially completed owing to customer demand.
What was expected to be the 271st and last GTO rolled out of the factory in October 1985. However, a few months earlier, Enzo Ferrari had promised to sell one at a discounted price to his former two-time World Champion driver, Niki Lauda.
Having joined Ferrari from BRM in 1974, Niki Lauda went on to have a stellar career with the Italian team. He secured the 1975 and 1977 World Drivers’ Championships and only narrowly missed out on the ‘76 crown following a fiery crash at the German Grand Prix which forced him to miss the next two races.
Lauda’s relationship with Enzo Ferrari soured when the Austrian driver decided to pull out of the ‘76 season finale in Japan owing to the appalling conditions. James Hunt won that year’s title by a single point and Enzo Ferrari felt Lauda should have toughed it out.
Despite having claimed the ‘77 Driver’s crown, things worsened when Lauda left Ferrari to join Bernie Ecclestone’s Brabham team for 1978.
Having grown frustrated with Brabham’s lack of competitiveness, Lauda quit F1 mid-way through the 1979 season.
He returned to the sport with McLaren in 1982 following another big money offer. Lauda’s second stint yielded the 1984 Drivers’ crown and he retired for good at the end of the 1985 campaign. Lauda then took up a consultancy role with Fiat and decided to accept Enzo Ferrari’s conciliatory offer of a discounted GTO.
Even though production had ended, Fiat and Ferrari agreed to split the cost of building one last GTO.
Lauda’s car, chassis 58329, was completed in March 1986.
Compared to most other examples, 58329 was finished to an especially high standard. It was painted Rosso Corsa and upholstered in black leather with red seat inserts. The optional air-conditioning and electric windows were also fitted.
Lauda collected the car personally. He flew his Learjet from Salzburg to Bologna and was then helicoptered to an airfield in Reggio Emilia for the secretive handover.
Lauda then drove the GTO back to Salzburg on the Escursionisti Esteri plate EE 304 AK.
Chassis 58329 remained in Niki Lauda’s custody until the late 1980s when he sold the car at the height of the supercar price boom to a fellow collector from Austria. The car has since gone through the hands of a couple more owners and been exported to the USA.
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: unattributed
