A 1962-63 Ferrari GTO Berlinetta was sold at auction on August 14 in California for $38,000,000, the most ever paid for a car.

The car previously belonged to Fabrizio Violati, an Italian amateur driver who died in 2010.

Former French Olympic ski champion Henri Oreiller was killed while driving it in a race at Montlhéry, France, back in 1962.

The vehicle was rebuilt by the Ferrari factory.

Though the sale was a new record price for any car sold at auction, the price actually fell short of the $50 million price some experts had predicted the classic car would go for this week.

"We've always maintained that we would exceed the current world record and that the car would bring between $30 million and $40 million and today the GTO did just that," said Robert Brooks, chairman of Bonhams, according to CNN.com.

The vehicle was one of 36 built in 1961-64.

A webcast of the auction started at 8 p.m.

More optimistic predictions were based on reports that a similar vehicle sold privately for well over $50 million.

The price included a 10% "buyer's premium" paid to the auction company, Bonhams.

The previous auction record was $30 million for a 1954 Mercedes-Benz race car sold in London in July 2013.

That classic vehicle was also sold by Bonhams, according to CNN.

"The GTO is the most highly sought after car in the world and was very well bought by the new owner," said McKeel Hagerty, the president of Hagerty Insurance, a company that insures collectible cars.

The term "well bought" is used in the car auction world when referring to a car sold for a lot less than it is worth.

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