This 1965 Ferrari 500 Superfast, S/N 7817, was completed on November 11, 1965, for its original owner, Barbara Woolworth Hutton, just a few days prior to her 53rd birthday and delivered new in Argento Grigio via Luigi Chinetti Motors. Hutton was the heiress to a third of business tycoon Frank Winfield Woolworth’s fortune and, as such, one of the wealthiest women in the world at the time, having inherited nearly $1 billion in today’s money. The pioneer of the five-and-dime store, Frank Winfield Woolworth opened his first Woolworth store in February 1879 as Woolworth’s Great Five Cent Store. Though his initial attempt in Utica, New York, failed, he tried again, this time in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in July of that year, finally finding success. Over the years, they led the charge in many tactics used today, such as merchandising, direct purchasing and customer service practices, growing the company into one of the largest retail chains in the country. The granddaughter of Frank W. Woolworth, Hutton had inherited millions of dollars between her mother’s estate and her share of the Woolworth inheritance following the death of her grandmother, Jennie Woolworth, in 1924. Invested by her father, her inheritance had grown to a massive amount during the Roaring Twenties before her father pulled it out prior to the Great Depression. Hutton received the inheritance when she turned 21 in 1933. Hutton was well known for her lavish lifestyle, which truly began in 1930 when she was thrown a lavish debutante ball for her 18th birthday that cost $60,000 at the time and included such guests as the Astor and Rockefeller families, as well as entertainment from stars like Rudy Vallee and Maurice Chevalier. A socialite and philanthropist, Hutton was ultimately dubbed America’s “Poor Little Rich Girl,” at first because of her 18th birthday celebration and her lavish spending during the Great Depression, but later because of her troubled and lavish life. While at one time among the richest women in the world, all of that would change between manipulative husbands amongst her seven marriages throughout her life, her extreme generosity that included donating the Winfield House to the U.S. government as a residence for the UK ambassador, her lavish spending, and the exploitation by those she trusted to manage her estate. By the time of her death on May 11, 1979, at the age of 66, Hutton was on the verge of bankruptcy, said to have had as little as $3,500 to her name.
