The Most Expensive Car Ever Auctioned in U.S.
It is a tough time to sell a used Hummer. But used Bugattis, Mercedes Gullwings and other rare auto breeds for the well-heeled still are fetching top dollar.
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| Pawel Litwinski, Gooding & Co. |
| 1937 Bugatti Type 57SC Atalante Coupe sold for $7.92 million, a U.S. record |
A few minutes ago, Gooding & Co. released the final tally for its annual Pebble Beach auction. The California sale, which follows the storied Concourse d’Elegance, is one of the elite car auctions in the world and has become a valuable barometer for the collectible-car market.
This year’s auction, which ended Sunday, raked in $64.2 million, topping last year’s huge tally of $60 million. Twenty cars sold for more than $1 million–more than triple the number in 2006. Five cars sold for more than $2 million. The Bugatti collection sold by Peter Williamson, comprised of 12 prized cars, sold for more than $15.5 million.
Granted, it wasn’t all good news. One in five cars failed to sell.
Still, the number of price records shattered this weekend suggests that the rare-cars business remains strong.
Here are of some of the blockbusters:
1937 Bugatti Type 37SC Atalante Coupe–$7.92 million, the highest price paid for a vehicle in North America.
1959 Ferrari 250 GT LWB “California”¯ Spider–$3.63 million
1938 Alfa Romeo 6C 2300B Mille Miglia “Sleeping Beauty”–$2.585 million
1950 Ferrari 166 MM Berlinetta Le Mans–$2.2 million.
Three cars from Oprah Winfrey’s collection, including a 1954 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing, sold for $716,000.
What does the auction say about the economy or the wealthy? The prices imply that there still are a limited number of prized cars sought after by a larger number of rich people. It also suggests that, as with art auctions, car auctions probably are benefiting from the relative well-being of the super rich as well as the overseas rich, who are taking advantage of the weaker dollar.
That doesn’t mean the collectibles boom will continue forever. But for now, it’s still rollin’.
Yup, it really is tough to sell a Hummer these days. Today’s news report has Russian soldiers confiscating ( ahem,stealing)some new Humveees that the U.S. had recently given the defeated Georgian army. Enjoy the ride, boys!
Well, Legal Beagle,
I guess thats what happens when you invade a
territory that has voted to become independent and then try to ethnically
cleanse it. Thank goodness Russia was there to stop Georgia’s massacre of
the South Ossetians.
It´s part of capitalism. Very rich people that want to elevate their personality buying things that they never will use. With that budget of cars you could help poor people not in South America, in the Bronx or in some areas of L.A. That budget could not save the world but in some cases or places you will find thousends of people very happy for at least one year. But this is part of the world, the only question is if that aristocrat people pay all the taxes they have to.
The Bugatti is nice…but in my fantasy garage (since you’re asking):
‘62 BENZ 300SL RAGTOP
‘56 CADDY ELDO’RAGTOP
‘09 FERRARI
CALIFORNIA
‘04 ASTON MARTIN VANQUISH
‘96 MCLAREN F1
‘64 LINCOLN 4
DR RAGTOP
‘08 BUGATTI VEYRON
‘67 VETTE’ STINGRAY RAGTOP
‘08 DODGE
CHALLENGER HEMI
‘08 BENTLEY GT
‘68 LAMBORGHINI MIURA
‘67 PONTIAC
GTO CONVERTIBLE
‘35 AUBURN 851 SPEEDSTER
‘05 FORD GT
‘63
LAMBORGHINI 350GTV
‘06 DODGE VIPER
I’m not really into collecting stuff…but I could see keeping them long enough for a weekend roadie…or a few quick laps @ the track & then back on the auction block.THE BENTLEY GT STAYS!(along with my daily driver DODGE RAM)
Nice collection Vegas but give me a break 09 FERRARI CALIFORNIA there is a reason most pictures show only the front end of the car.
thank you for this.
You have to realize that in these reserve auctions a lot of games are played (representatives of the auction house running up prices to reach the reserve, which is legal,and guys bidding on and buying their own cars, etc.) so its a safe assumption that a lot of these numbers must be taken with a grain of salt.
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