How's this for a striking automobile?

This 1958 Ferrari 250 GT LWB 'Tour de France' Berlinetta is billed as "one of the most desirable competition-bred Ferraris extant" by RM Auctions.

"The Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta not only has breathtaking looks, it remains arguably the greatest and most important Ferrari road/racing car ever built," read the lot notes.

Not surprisingly, this car emerged as the top lot at the firm's recent London sale on October 26, selling for an impressive £2.24m ($3,578,470) - comfortably above its £2m minimum estimate.

So what sort of qualities must a car have to estimated at £2m minimum?

This Ferrari boasts alloy coachwork and V-12 power and covered "single-louver" headlamps which featured on only 36 cars.

Inside and out: the 1958 Ferrari 250 GT LWB 'Tour de France' Berlinetta

The matching numbers 'Tour de France' Berlinetta was restored by marque specialists in Italy and later worked on by UK-based Ferrari specialists.

Bacchelli & Villa handled the coachwork, and the interior was entrusted to the respected Selleria Luppi.

Beneath the classic car's bonnet is a 2,953 cc SOHC alloy block-and-head V-12 engine capable of 250 bhp at 7,000 rpm.

According to RM's lot notes, the seller of this car - "himself a fastidious collector" who demanded "perfection of all of the cars within his collection" - acquired it in late 2005 and soon-after participated in the Mille Miglia.

Not surprisingly, this car has enjoyed a public profile having been tested and featured in Octane in January 2006, "marking a thoroughly enjoyable and particularly satisfying drive for the magazine's testers."