Hoping to get your hands on a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO? Good luck. The car set a record on Thursday night as the most expensive classic car ever purchased at auction, with a final price tag coming it at $38 million.

According to a report from the Los Angeles Times, the car was auctioned off as part of Monterey Car Week, one of the biggest classic car festivals in the world. And while the supremely rare GTO broke records with its sale price, the ultimate $34.65 million bid was actually lower than what analysts had expected. (A 10 percent buyer fee brings the final payout to about $38 million.)

Indeed, the value of classic cars have been skyrocketing in recent years, and Monterey Car Week is a case study for the growth of the market. In 2004, total sales at the show totaled about $48 million, across all auto auctions. Last year, that amount had increased to $312 million, and this year, experts were predicting that the total amount could top half a billion. That might not happen now, since the GTO – thought by many to be the main draw of this year’s show – sold for a lower dollar amount than expected.

Of course, a number like $38 million could hardly be disappointing, and it is a thoroughly fair amount considering the fact that the Ferrari GTO in question, tagged by the chassis number 3851GT, has been crashed, damaged, rebuilt, and repainted several times in its lifespan. The car even has a specter of death about it: in 1962, French race car driver Henri Oreiller suffered a tire blowout and flipped the car, an accident that resulted in fatal injuries.

Still, the fact that the Ferrari GTO is one of the rarest cars in the world meant it was going to sell for big bucks at Monterey. There are only 39 GTOs in the world, and several of them are owned by celebrities, including fashion mogul Ralph Lauren and Nick Mason, the drummer for Pink Floyd.

So if $38 million seems low, what were experts predicting the 3851GT would sell for? Most projections ranged from $60 to $70 million.