An Ohio real estate developer was the buyer of a 1957 Ferrari that sold for more than $35 million on Friday, according to people familiar with the sale.
Sources say Brian Ross, owner of Ross Development in Cortland, Ohio, was the winning bidder of the 1957 Ferrari 335 Sport Scaglietti that sold in Paris at an Artcurial Motorcars auction for roughly 32 million euros, or $35.7 million.
Ross didn't return a call for comment. According to his company's website, he founded Ross Development in 1989 to develop and manage commercial retail projects throughout the country.
Ross already has an enviable Ferrari collection — helped by the fact that he also owns a Ferrari dealership in Vancouver, British Columbia. Experts say he has about a dozen of the prized "prancing horse" brand cars in the plush garage of his home in Cortland.
Video of the garage from an HGTV show about the home shows a Ferrari F40 leading a lineup of several other red cars. And an article about the HGTV video, written in 2013, says he owns a 1955 410 Sport.
His reported purchase of the 1957 335 S would mean Ross is now in possession of the most expensive car ever sold at auction — at least in euro terms. The final sale price with commission fees was 32.075 million euros, which translates into nearly $36 million.
Artcurial says its Ferrari set a new world record in euros for a car sold at auction. Yet some say the true title of most expensive car should really go to a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO Berlinetta that was sold by Bonhams in 2014 for $38.1 million, or 28.5 million euros at the time.
Since the euro has weakened against the dollar, exchange rates have moved dramatically since the 2014 sale. So while the 1962 car is the most expensive in dollar terms, the car reportedly sold to Ross holds the record in euros.