Jeremy Clarkson's Ferrari F355 GTS returns to auction with a higher £200,000-£250,000 estimate

A second attempt after a failed 2025 sale

This is not the car's first auction appearance this decade. It previously went under the hammer at RM Sotheby's Cliveden House sale on 8 July 2025 with a lower estimate of £180,000 to £220,000 (about $240,000 to $294,000) and failed to sell.

The sources do not give a specific reason why it failed to sell last time, only noting that markets shift and bidders in the room change. The new offering comes with a higher guide price and a different venue: a Classic Motor Show crowd rather than a country-house sale.

For context on recent F355 GTS values, a 1997 example in the same colour combination sold at an Iconic Auctioneers sale on 23 August 2025 for £120,375 (about $160,700). That figure is a useful reference point given this car's celebrity provenance and recent condition work.

Specification and provenance

The car is finished in Rosso Corsa over Crema leather with Rosso carpets and features rarely specified factory carbon-backed sports seats trimmed in Crema with red inserts. It has around 15,200 miles on the odometer since leaving Maranello.

It is a six-speed manual, not the notoriously troublesome F1 automated gearbox Ferrari offered on the F355. The car retains its numbers-matching V8, the five-valve-per-cylinder Tipo F129B unit producing 380 horsepower at 8,250 rpm, with a 4.7-second run to 62 mph and a top speed past 180 mph.

The sale includes original order correspondence through Maranello Sales of Egham, the warranty card naming Clarkson as first owner, owner's manuals, the tool kit and a car cover, along with newspaper columns documenting his four years with it.

Recent maintenance and auction costs

In May 2025 the current owner spent £9,345 (about $12,500) on cosmetic work, steering rack attention, a cambelt replacement and a full service, on top of interior reconditioning and ceramic coating.

Buyers should note that Iconic Auctioneers charges a 12.5 percent premium plus VAT, 15 percent inclusive.

Bentley's Mulliner division has built 12 Continental GTs as the Olympia Collection, a numbered special edition whose centrepiece is a two-tone green gradient that takes 56 hours to apply to each car. The collection commemorates 100 years since the Bentley 6½ Litre was presented as a complete coachbuilt car at the 1926 Olympia Motor Show.

Each car begins as a Continental GT and passes through Mulliner's coachbuilding operation. The changes are confined to finish and materials: Bentley has announced no powertrain revisions, no performance figures and no pricing for the collection.

The paint is the engineering story

The finish, called Ombré by Mulliner, blends Verdant green at the front of the car into Midnight Emerald toward the rear. Bentley says its paint technicians need 56 hours to complete the gradient on each car, well beyond what a standard colour coat requires, because carrying two distinct greens across every body panel without a visible seam means repeated passes and hand correction.

Bentley has not broken down how those 56 hours divide between masking, layering and polishing. The figure covers paint alone, before the interior work begins.

Heritage detailing inside and out

The cabin pairs Coach Green and Cumbrian Green leather in a bespoke split, set against a heritage-patinated finish intended to look worn. Black-stained open-pore crown-cut walnut veneer, diamond-knurled controls and Champagne Gold accents complete the trim.

Each of the 12 cars comes with a matching car cover, a commemorative book, a handover box and an individually numbered Brooklands watch whose strap is cut from the same Coach Green leather used in the cabin.

Bentley framed the commission around continuity of craft: "The uncompromising drive for excellence epitomised by W.O.'s Lyon to Dieppe spirited drive can still be found in Crewe's Dream Factory today," the company said in a statement accompanying the reveal.

Why the 6½ Litre name carries weight

W.O. Bentley's first car, the 3 Litre, launched in 1921, and the larger 6½ Litre was his answer to the heavier coachwork being fitted to that chassis. It was previewed as a bare chassis at Olympia in 1925 and shown as a complete car a year later.

The 6½ Litre proved itself at Brooklands before its engine was combined with a more performance-focused chassis for the separate Speed Six, which won Le Mans in 1929 and 1930. The Olympia Collection's detailing echoes that history while leaving the mechanical package untouched.

This is familiar ground for Mulliner, which has previously marked 80 years at Crewe and built a one-off Barnato Green Continental GT around a single colour and a specific anniversary date. The pattern is clear: these commissions are collectible objects built around a finish and a date, not performance upgrades, which suits buyers who already own the standard car and want something no one else can order.

What Bentley has not said

Pricing, the markets that will receive the cars and any region-specific allocation have not been disclosed. With 12 cars built and individually numbered, the collection is presented as a special edition defined by craftsmanship and paint rather than by any change under the bonnet.