The Most Expensive Cars That Went Under the Hammer This Year
Auctions are wild when you think about it. Someone waves a paddle and suddenly a car that sat in a garage for decades belongs to someone new. These machines got ridiculous money thrown at them and honestly some of these prices made my jaw drop a little.
Ferrari 250 GTO
This thing went for something like seventy million and I’m not even surprised anymore. Every time one of these shows up people lose their minds. The shape alone makes you want to stare at it for hours and apparently someone decided that was worth more than most people’s entire neighborhoods. Red paint, curves that don’t make sense, and a racing history that reads like a movie script. You can almost smell the old leather and burnt rubber just looking at photos of it.
McLaren F1
Close to twenty million for this one I think. Three seats with the driver in the middle like you’re piloting a spaceship. Gordon Murray basically drew this thing in a fever dream and somehow it still looks futuristic now. The engine bay lined with gold and that scream when it hits high RPMs. Someone who bought this probably parks it next to their other McLaren F1 because that’s apparently what you do when you have this kind of money.
Porsche 917K
Racing legend sold for somewhere around fourteen million which feels almost reasonable compared to the others. This car won Le Mans and scared the absolute hell out of drivers back in the day. Short wheelbase, massive power, and a reputation for trying to kill you if you weren’t careful. Now it sits in some climate controlled garage looking pretty but you know someone is going to fire it up eventually and wake up the entire neighborhood.
Shelby Cobra 427
Ten million give or take for American muscle wrapped in British curves. Carroll Shelby stuck a massive Ford engine into an AC roadster and created something that still makes people nervous. No traction control, no computers, just raw power and hope. The one that sold was supposedly one of the original competition cars and honestly you could feel the weight of history just reading about it.
Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing
Around eight million for those doors that swing up like wings. Every time you see one open you want to take a photo even though a million photos already exist. This was the car that made Mercedes sexy back in the fifties and that hasn’t changed. Silver paint catching the light, that grille looking mean, and an interior that still feels special decades later.
Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic
This one hit forty million and honestly it might be the most beautiful car ever made. Only four were built and fewer survive. Jean Bugatti designed it before he died young and tragic. The center spine running down the body, those curves, the doors that seem too small. It’s art that happens to have wheels and an engine.
Jaguar D-Type
Racing heritage brought this to around twelve million. Steve McQueen owned one once or maybe it was Paul Newman I always mix them up. Low, sleek, built to win Le Mans and it did exactly that. British engineering when British engineering still meant something special. That long hood and the fin behind the driver’s head. Pure purpose.
Ford GT40
Somewhere around eleven million for the car that beat Ferrari at their own game. Henry Ford got mad and built something to prove a point. Four consecutive Le Mans wins and a legacy that still echoes. The one that sold was an original racer not a replica and that matters more than you’d think. Gulf livery or not these things just look right.
Lamborghini Miura
Five million or so for what might be the first real supercar. Ferruccio Lamborghini wanted to embarrass Enzo and the Miura was his middle finger. Engine sitting sideways behind the seats, those eyelashes on the headlights, a roofline so low you had to fold yourself to get in. Orange or yellow these things still stop traffic.
Aston Martin DB5
James Bond’s car sold for around six million which seems about right for movie history. Gadgets probably didn’t work anymore but who cares. Silver birch paint, wire wheels, and that grille that says British sophistication. Someone bought it knowing they’d never drive it as hard as it deserves but at least it’s preserved for another generation to drool over.
