From the glint of crafted wheels to a growling engine as it readies for a sprint, there are umpteen reasons collectors are enthralled by luxury cars. Here are the five most expensive ever sold:
5. 1954 Mercedes-Benz W196 — US$29.6 million
The 1954 Mercedes-Benz W196 is racing royalty. Both Juan Manuel Fangio and Sir Stirling Moss drove this most silver of silver arrows during the ’54 and ’55 F1 seasons, winning a cool 9 out of 12 races. Part of its value comes from its relatively wild nature in not being chained in a factory or museum — appropriate for a car that claimed two world championships.
4. 1957 Ferrari 335 S — US$35.75 million
Perhaps the greatest actual racing car produced by Ferrari, this epitome of effortless, mid-century cool claimed the 1957 Constructor’s World Championship and finished an agonising second at the final Mille Miglia, thereby cementing its place in the pantheon of Prancing Horse greats.
3. 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO — US$38.115 million
Enzo Ferrari is thought to have said, “Ask a child to draw a car, and certainly he will draw it red.” He might almost certainly also draw the 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO, that most Ferrari of Ferraris, at once both a Renaissance sculpture and a panther about to pounce. Just 36 were built and all still exist, but this does nothing to take away from its — at the time of its auction in 2014 — record-setting value.
2. 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO — US$48.405 million
That both the third and second most expensive cars ever sold are the 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO speaks to the throne it occupies in the luxury car fraternity. This model in particular, the third out of 36, retains in excess of 95% of its original parts — a rarity well worth the extra ~US$10 million.
1. 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe
Sold for ~US$90 million more than the 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO, this 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe is only one of two in existence. Designed as a road-friendly counterpart to the W196R, the model perhaps best exemplifies the rapid acceptance of the fact that luxury cars, like the best of fine art, retain an absolute timelessness as the tastes and eras around them change.
