Wheeling and dealing: The 10 most expensive cars ever sold at auction
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Wheeling and dealing: The x nearly expensive cars e'er sold at auction
Ferrari rules the roost with half dozen cars in the pinnacle 10.
Six of the top 10 nearly expensive cars sold at sale were produced past Ferrari. (Photos: Diverse; Art: Chern Ling)
28 May 2022 06:30AM (Updated: 04 Jul 2022 10:03AM)
Old is gold, they say. And that's no more apt apotheosis of that saying than on the archetype car auction circuit. Arguably the most famous of them being the ones that happen during the almanac Monterey Car Week in California – an extravaganza of all things motoring, from racing to Concours d'Elegance to, you guessed information technology, auctions.
In recent years, the Monterey Car Week has also been a venue for new car launches, with carmakers choosing to debut new production models or concepts there, abroad from the traditional motor show circuit. Merely that's another story for another time.
Back to auctions. RM Sotheby's had a bumper yr at Monterey in 2018. Held over two days, the auctions generated recorded grosses for the auction firm, pulling in almost US$158 million (S$217 million).
What's fifty-fifty more than astonishing is just one machine was responsible for roughly a tertiary of that total gross. Incidentally, that motorcar now wears the crown of the well-nigh expensive car ever sold at sale.
JAGUAR D-Type
U.s.a.$21.viii 1000000 (Due south$30 million)
RM Sotheby'due south Monterey, Aug xix, 2016
The Jaguar D-Blazon endurance race car was designed by Malcolm Sayer, whose work with cars was preceded by his work with aircraft during the war years. The aerodynamic bodywork, typified by its flowing lines, pocket-sized frontal area, underbody optimisation and most obviously a fin behind the commuter, was revolutionary at the time. Fitting so, that Ron Flockhart, one of the drivers who piloted the D-Type put up for auction in 2022 to an overall Le Mans victory in 1956 was himself a keen aviator. Calculation to the richness of this D-Blazon's story is how the 1956 race was run in abysmal conditions – only a tertiary of all entrants finished the rain-sodden, mist-caked race, with one driver losing his life.
DUESENBERG SSJ
US$22 million (Southward$30.3 million)
Gooding & Company Pebble Beach, Aug 25, 2018
To be certain, 400hp isn't a lot of power these days, with the adjacent-generation Mercedes-AMG A45 S hot hatchback rumoured to pack 421hp. Merely in 1935, when the Duesenberg SSJ fabricated its debut (two years before the carmaker folded), that must have been akin to driving a Saturn 5 rocket. Key to that operation was its 6.9-litre inline-eight engine, supercharged in SJ models for extra oomph. One of only two built and formerly owned past silver screen pioneer Gary Cooper, that SSJ hammered for US$22 1000000 last year and today holds the tape of being the most expensive American car ever auctioned.
ASTON MARTIN DBR1
US$22.half dozen million (S$31.1 one thousand thousand)
RM Sotheby'southward Monterey, Aug 19, 2017
The Aston Martin DBR1 is most expensive British-made motorcar always sold at sale, and it'southward not difficult to see why. Built from 1956, the DBR1 was a clean-sheet design not based on any road-going car (attributable to rule changes from that year) and still holds the distinction of beingness Aston Martin'south simply overall victory at the world's premier endurance race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Chassis number one (of five) was put up for sale in 2022 – while it may non be the Le Mans-winning car from 1959 and retiring in all three of its attempts at the endurance archetype, it is nevertheless hugely important. Racing legends Jack Brabham, Sir Stirling Moss and Carroll Shelby in one case warmed chassis number i's seat.
MERCEDES-BENZ W196
£xix.7 million (South$34.v million)
Bonhams Goodwood, Jul 12, 2013
The very aforementioned car piloted by post-war racing legends Juan Manuel Fangio and Sir Stirling Moss to two consecutive world championships, and the only 1 believed to be in private hands (the residue belong to the factory or museums) was put up for sale at the 2022 Goodwood Festival of Speed. And the winning toll, as yous'd expect, was astronomical and a record at the fourth dimension. In addition to its exceptional race pedigree, winning nine of the 12 races information technology entered, the W196 was the last Formula One car entered past the Mercedes-Benz factory before it pulled out of the championships. A manufacturing plant-backed Mercedes-Benz car would only return to Formula I some half dozen decades afterwards in 2010.
FERRARI 275 GTB/C SPECIALE
United states$26.iv million (S$36.iii million)
RM Sotheby'due south Monterey, Aug 16, 2014
Despite being far, far rarer than the Ferrari 250 GTO, its successor, the 275 GTB/C Speciale, of which just three were made, doesn't quite command the same sort of fervour. The auction sheet for this particular 275, the first of three factory-built cars, calls this an "unrepeatable opportunity to acquire such an important automobile". While auctioneers are prone to bouts of hyperbole, nosotros call back it's entirely apt in this case. And perhaps the simply reason why information technology doesn't send buyers into a frenzy as a 250 GTO does is maybe the fact information technology doesn't clothing the hallowed GTO bluecoat.
FERRARI 275 GTS/4 NART SPIDER
U.s.$27.5 meg (S$37.8 one thousand thousand)
RM Sotheby's Monterey, Aug 17, 2013
Information technology'due south frequently said that the only reason Enzo Ferrari congenital road cars is to fund his racing endeavours, and then it's mayhap not shocking that he appointed one Luigi Chinetti, an Italian emigre and former racer himself (Chinetti would also later continue to found an American racing team), as his North American importer. But perhaps nearly important is the ascendancy Chinetti had with the factory, resulting in numerous special-edition cars, including this, the 275 GTS/4 Spyder, with an intended run of 25 cars, though just 10 were congenital. The one that sold in 2022 was a one-owner car from new since 1967, kept in the same family for three generations, and its owner, Eddie Smith Sr., was personally invited to buy it past Chinetti.
FERRARI 290 MM
US$28 meg (S$38.5 million)
RM Sotheby's New York, Dec 10, 2015
Congenital in a fourth dimension when the racing was hard and the men who raced them even harder, the Ferrari 290 MM was a purpose-congenital race car designed to compete in the Mille Miglia route race, hence the "MM" appellation. The particular example sold in New York in 2022 didn't exactly have the sort of all-acquisition race pedigree that some other cars on this listing might have only finishing quaternary in the 1956 Mille Miglia, merely it certainly didn't have any problem attracting buyers, selling for U.s.a.$28 one thousand thousand. Peradventure a inkling to that particular automobile's appeal is how the person who once occupied its driver'due south seat was the all-conquering Juan Manuel Fangio, a man who won 46 percent of all the races he entered, a record that stands to this mean solar day.
FERRARI 335 S SPIDER SCAGLIETTI
€32.i million (Due south$49.4 million)
Artcurial Paris, Feb 5, 2016
Is €32.one 1000000 a lot to pay for a motorcar? Sure it is. Is it a lot to pay for a race car that you can never drive on public roads? Most definitely. Is it a lot to pay for one of the iv examples ever made, with that item one sitting in a individual French collection for over iv decades? Well, that depends on your point of view. Adding to the significance of the auto and its mystique is that the 335 S was a cardinal factor in the counterfoil of the Mille Miglia road race after 1957. During that twelvemonth's race, a fatal accident involving the 335 South killed fourteen spectators, along with the car's driver and co-driver.
FERRARI 250 GTO
The states$38.one 1000000 (South$52.five 1000000)
Bonham'southward Quail Club, Aug xiv, 2014
Is it actually any surprise that the number ii car on this list is also a Ferrari 250 GTO? When the hammer vicious for chassis 3851GT in 2014, it was and then the most expensive motorcar always sold at auction at Us$38.1 1000000 – "[the] auction pavilion was filled to total capacity with overflow on the lawns watching the happenings alive on the numerous television screens", co-ordinate to auctioneers Bonhams.
FERRARI 250 GTO
US$48.4 1000000 (Due south$66.7 million)
RM Sotheby's Monterey, Aug 26, 2018
With just 36 examples built between 1962 and 1964, that should already guarantee desirability, but add together this car's provenance to that and it's no wonder this 250 GTO broke the previous record by United states of america$10 1000000. Chassis number 3413GT participated and won in its class at the 1963 and 1964 Targa Florio, plus a slew of other victories. It should also be noted that chassis 3413GT's erstwhile owner, Gregory Whitten of Microsoft (he was employee number fifteen), reportedly bought the car in the twelvemonth 2000 for a 10th of its record-shattering price.
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