The longtime Bel-Air home of Lee Iacocca, the late automobile titan who brought Chrysler Corp back from the brink of bankruptcy in 1979, has sold for $19.5 million.
Iacocca and his family were the original owners of the property, The Times previously reported.
The former Ford and Chrysler executive, who died last year at 94, helped pioneer the Mustang and Pinto lines while at Ford in the 1960s. Iacocca was featured last year as a character in the Oscar-winning film “Ford v Ferrari.”
Set on more than an acre, the two-story home has a grand foyer with arched ceilings, a wood-paneled den and a great room. There are five fireplaces, including two in the expansive master retreat. A total of five bedrooms and eight bathrooms includes an apartment for staff.
French doors lead out to a stone pavilion, a swimming pool and formal gardens. A lighted tennis court lies elsewhere on the grounds.
Owned by the Iacocca family since the early 1990s, the gated estate came up for sale in January for $25.999 million and entered escrow in March — just as the city of Los Angeles went into lockdown due to COVID-19. Luckily the transaction remained in escrow, and the multimillion-dollar transaction closed Wednesday, according to listing agents Rick Hilton and David Kramer of Hilton & Hyland.
“People still need a place to live,” Kramer said. “Real estate is still relevant in the sense that people of every financial situation need a home.” Kramer and teammate Kevin Anderson represented the buyer of the Iacocca Estate. Rick Hilton, meanwhile, represented the seller of a Malibu mansion that sold via an online auction for $11.2 million this past week. The listing was held along with Rodrigo Iglesias and Helena Deeds of Hilton & Hyland.