A 1957 Ferrari Testa Rossa fetched $16.4 million at a California auction, setting the record for the highest price ever paid for a car at auction.

The car was the first Testa Rossa built, and served as the prototype for Testa Rossa race cars. It has a 300-horsepower 3.0-liter V-12 engine and a four-speed manual transmission. The gavel came down Saturday at the annual Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance at Monterey Car Week in California, where hundreds of other pricey classic cars were sold.

The buyer was not identified.

''The ultra-rich remain ultra-rich,'' Swiss-based Ferrari historian Marcel Massini told the Sydney Morning Herald. ''The very, very best sells easily and incredibly high.''

The bright red, Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa, which competed in the Le Mans 24-hour race, won first place in the 2006 Concours d'Elegance, where classic cars are judged based on their looks and condition.

The previous record for a car sold at auction was the $12 million sale of another 1957 Testa Rossa in Maranello, Italy in 2009. The price paid on Saturday includes a 10 percent fee for auctioneers Gooding & Company, according to CNNMoney.

Going unsold at the auction was a 1925 Rolls-Royce New Phantom that had been expected to fetch $1 million. Also unsold was a 1963 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III Drophead Coupe owned by Sammy Davis Jr.