Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Official: 1952 Ferrari Hydroplane to Hit the Auction Block in Monaco


Any Ferrari is a rare vehicle indeed; and it is to be assumed a conversation about the storied automaker would naturally be about a car.  In this case that assumption would be wrong; of course most of you probably read the title, saw the picture, and combined that with the fact this is a blog about boats and therefore never made that assumption.  Well played readers, well played.
RM will be auctioning this rare and famous hydroplane in Monaco just before summer.  The stored watercraft, named the Arno XI, was built by Achille Castoldi who convinced Enzo Ferrari himself to lend his expertise in helping to develop the machine.  Ferrari was convinced after hearing one word, Maserati.  (Ok, I made that part up, but I am sure it didn’t take much persuasion once the Maserati name was dropped.)   Now, for a few Arno XI facts before some beautiful boat pictures.  The Arno XI is powered by a 5.4 liter, twin supercharged V12, that makes over 600 horsepower.  All that power translated to a 150.19mph run on Northern Italy’s Lake Iseo back in 1953 for a world record that still stands today (for the 800kg class).  Combine all this stored past with the beautiful form of the classic hydroplane and add the Ferrari name and this vessel is expected to collect $1.5 million.  Just don’t be that guy with the full Ferrari track suit on as you bid.
Check out more photos after the jump below.


























Source: Autoblog and RM Auction

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