James Coburn-Cars

 

 

 

 

Coburn’s interest in fast cars began with his father’s garage business and continued throughout his personal life. He exported rare cars to Japan.  Coburn is credited with turning Steve McQueen on to Ferraris.  Coburn owned two at that time. One was a Ferrari 250 GT Lusso, the other the Ferrari 250 GT Spyder California SWB. His Spyder was the thirteenth of just fifty-six built. Coburn imported the pre-owned car in 1964, shortly after completing “The Great Escape”.  The car was restored and sold for $10,894,400.00 to English broadcaster Chris Evans. It set a new world record for the highest price ever paid for an automobile at auction.

 

Cal Spyder #2377 was repainted several times during Coburn's ownership; it has been black, silver and possibly burgundy. Coburn kept the car at his Beverly Hills-area home, where it was often serviced by Max Balchowsky, who also did the suspension and frame modifications on those Mustang GTs used in the filming of

 

McQueen’s "Bullitt." Coburn sold the Spyder in 1987 after 24 years of ownership. Over time he also owned the above-noted Lusso, a Ferrari Daytona, at least one Ferrari 308 and a 1967 Ferrari 412P sports racer.