Most expensive cars ever sold at auction

Brand new supercars and hypercars can have some pretty hefty pricetags, but they’re not even in the same league as some of the most expensive cars ever sold at auction.

The rarest and most highly desirable cars ever made have the ability to attract new owners who measure their wealth in billions of dollars rather than millions. Collectable cars from over the years are now seen as investment opportunities for the super-rich in the same light as art, jewellery, and real estate, which pushes the hammer price up even further. Even more so if the car in question has a notable past or was owned by a famous custodian.

What kind of cars sell for the highest prices?

While any car can be auctioned off, it’s really only the ultra-rare, high-profile or former race cars which attract the highest prices when the hammer comes down. The most expensive car ever sold at auction is a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR ‘Uhlenhaut Coupe’ from 1955, which sold for $135,000,000 when it was hammered away in 2022.

Mercedes isn’t the dominant force in the most expensive cars list though. Ferrari has long been the leader in terms of astronomical auction prices with models made in the 1950s to 1970s most sought after by serious collectors, and likely to make the most money. 

Tastes are starting to change though as younger buyers come into the high-end classic car market and focus on the cars they longed for in their youth. In 2023 a Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500 sold for almost £600k, breaking the previous record of £128k, while more recently a Honda NSX sold for almost £800k. Iconic models like the Ferrari Enzo, McLaren F1 and Lexus LFA are also creeping up the rankings.

It will be interesting to see what happens to the price of 70s, 80s and 90s cars in the coming years. Although don’t expect Ferrari 250 GTO’s to drop too much in price.

Top 10 most expensive cars sold at auction

Our list below details the top 10 most expensive cars sold at an auction. Some classic cars may have sold for more in private deals, but there’s no way to know exactly how much they fetched. 

All auction prices are verified and they give us a clear indication of health in the classic car market at the very top end and what a particular make and model is worth.

In 2026, the Ferrari Luce ‘Tailor Made’ became the most expensive new car ever to be sold at auction during Monterey Car Week, selling for $40,000,000. During the same event, a 1964 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe became the most expensive American car to be sold at auction, selling for $42,905,000 when it crossed the block.

You can click the links in the table above to jump to a specific model, or scroll down to read more about the most expensive cars sold at auction..

1. 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe

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• Auction house: RM Sotheby's
• Location: Stuttgart
• Year: 2022
• Sold for: $135,000,000

The most expensive car ever sold at auction is this 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé. It takes its name from Mercedes’ chief engineer and the car’s designer Rudolf Uhlenhaut, and only two examples were ever made.

A measure of just how exclusive this Mercedes racer is was the sale was run as an invite-only auction. It was held at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Germany and it’s thought only 10 bidders were invited to take part. The tactic clearly worked as the car was sold for an astonishing £115 million ($135 million).

Incredibly, the starting bid for this German racer was higher than the fourth-place Ferrari 250 GTO’s winning bid. It was owned by Mercedes from new, covering only 3,756 miles in seven decades and the sale came with strings attached. Mercedes insisted the new owner care for it in the same way it had, and that it would still be shared at events.

While neither 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé was raced, both featured an upgraded 3.0-litre straight-eight taken from the iconic two-time Grand Prix World Championship-winning W196 R, driven by Juan Manuel Fangio

2. 1954 Mercedes-Benz W 196 R streamliner

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• Auction house: RM Sotheby's
• Location: Stuttgart
• Year: 2025
• Sold for: $53,917,370

Any car that’s been driven by a motorsport legend will probably do well at auction, but a very rare Mercedes that’s seen both Sir Stirling Moss and Juan Manuel Fagio behind its wheel was bound to get a few collectors opening up their well-stuffed wallets.

This W 196 R streamliner was sold on behalf of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, and it’s the first of its kind to ever make its way into private ownership. Not only does it have a rich racing heritage, but it’s rare, too, as there are only four known examples to wear the highly distinctive Stromlinienwagen bodywork

3. 1962 Ferrari 330 LM 250 GTO by Scaglietti

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• Auction house: RM Sotheby's
• Location: New York
• Year: 2023
• Sold for: $51,705,000

It’s the first of a Ferrari 250 GTO hat-trick, as a RM Sotheby’s sale in New York in 2023 saw yet another one of these coveted classics go for a truly staggering amount. 

Although it actually failed to meet the initial $60,000,000 estimate, this car’s huge value saw it listed in an art auction rather than an automotive one. However, that rather missed the point of this car’s amazing race history.

The car in question is chassis number 3765, which was the only GTO Tipo to be raced by the Scuderia Ferrari team. It was driven by Mike Parkes and Lorenzo Bandini at the 1962 24 Hours of Le Mans race, and also took a class win and second-place finish at the Nürburgring 1,000km in the same year.

This 250 came onto the market after belonging to its previous owner for a whopping 38 years, which also helped stir up the pre-sale frenzy for a car with such a rich history

4. 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO

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• Auction house: RM Sotheby's
• Location: Monterey
• Year: 2018
• Sold for: $48,405,000

Ferrari 250 GTO’s are quite a common sight on this list, and this particular 250 GTO was sold at RM Sotheby's in Monterey in 2018. At the time of its sale it was described as “the world’s most important, desirable and legendary motor car”. Quite a claim, but one it could back up.

The third of 36 GTOs made, this one was upgraded during its early life to Series II specification to keep it competitive in racing. It contested the 1962 Italian GT Championship, took 15 class and overall wins between 1962 and 1965, and it helped Ferrari win the 1964 International Championship for GT Manufacturers. On top of that impressive list, this car also won the gruelling Targa Florio road race two years in a row in 1963 and ’64.

This particular 250 GTO – chassis number 3413 GT – was owned for two decades by Ferrari enthusiast and vintage racer Dr Gregory Whitten before its 2018 sale. It was driven to the auction block by five-time Le Mans winner Derek Bell, and the auctioneer opened the bidding at a cool $35million. 

Three bidders competed for the car over the course of ten minutes, with the final sum reaching $48,405,000, or £37.68 million at the time of its sale

5. 1964 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe

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• Auction house: Gooding Christie's
• Location: Monterey
• Year: 2026
• Sold for: $42,905,000

Is this 1964 Shelby Daytona one of the most significant American cars ever built? Quite possibly! Not only is it one of only six examples of the Cobra Daytona Coupe, a model created to defeat the Ferrari 250 GTO, it was also Carroll Shelby’s personal Daytona Coupe from 1975 to 1998.

That’s quite a history in its own right, but chassis CSX2300 has much more racing pedigree than meets the eye. This car debuted at the 1964 Tour de France Automobile with Robert Bodurant and Jochan Neerpasch and was a key participant in Shelby’s historic 1965 FIA GT Championship season. It was also the only Cobra Daytona Coupe to extend its competition career, racing successfully in Japan through to 1968.

Even in 2026, a car which is well over 60 years old is still making history. When CSX2300 crossed the block and sold for $42,905,000 at Monterey Car Week, it became the most expensive American car ever to be sold at auction

6. 2026 Ferrari Luce ‘Tailor Made’

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• Auction house: RM Sotheby's
• Location: Monterey
• Year: 206
• Sold for: $40,000,000

The Ferrari Luce caused quite a stir when it was first unveiled, and while many people criticised, and even ridiculed, the iconic Italian brand for the styling of its first electric car, that didn’t stop one person from shelling out $40,000,000 at auction. 

The buyer was Dr. Herbert Wertheim, a billionaire philanthropist who is said to have placed the giant bid in a charity auction as a tax-efficient way to donate to charity. One year earlier, the same man bought a Ferrari Daytona SP3 for $26,000,000. Ferrari donated all of the proceeds from the Luce sale to benefit future educational initiatives through The Ferrari Foundation.

The car in question, ‘Chassis 0’, is the first production chassis of the Ferrari Luce and was uniquely configured through Ferrari’s bespoke ‘Tailor Made’ programme. 

Featuring a special livery developed specifically for this car, the exterior is finished in Madreperla semi-gloss, while the interior has been finished in Le Mans metallic leather in Perla. Rather than standard leather, the material used in the Luce derives from carefully selected Swiss hides which were chosen for their distinct softness and reflective properties.

Exclusive finishing details include bespoke brake calipers, the Ferrari logo set against an optical white background, and a dedicated plaque that identifies the car as ‘Chassis 0’

7. 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO

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• Auction house: Mecum
• Location: Kissimmee
• Year: 2026
• Sold for: $38,500,000 

It’s probably becoming clear that the Ferrari 250 GTO is special when it comes to the world of high-ranking classic cars, but very few 250 GTO’s are as exceptional as this one.

Chassis number 3729GT was driven in anger by many different racing drivers over the years, including Graham Hill and Jack Sears, taking multiple wins and podiums across various racing series. 

Sears went on to have this car in his personal collection between 1970 and 1999. Since 1999, its previous custodian returned the car to its original Bianco livery and took it to numerous classic racing events like the Goodwood Revival. 

A 300bhp 3.0-litre V12 powers this racer and it sold for a cool $38.5 million when it crossed the block in Kissimmee, Florida in early 2026. We think the fact this 250 GTO is one-of-eight right hand drive cars and has never been restored might have further influenced its price

8. 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO

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• Auction house: RM Sotheby's
• Location: Monterey
• Year: 2014
• Sold for: $38,115,000

Ask most people what the priciest classic car in the world is and they’re likely to say “Ferrari 250 GTO”.  Even people with no interest in historic cars know this name, helped by many headlines as the model has routinely broken auction records. 

To prove the point, this 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO Berlinetta became the most expensive car ever sold at auction when it went under the hammer in 2014, a record it held for four years but has since been surpassed. This example was built to contest the 1963 FIA World GT Championship, which it went on to win. That kind of history accounts for the lofty price paid by its new owner.

This 1962-63 example is not only one of the best surviving cars, but also has an impeccable CV of victories and famous drivers to its credit

9. 1964 Ferrari 250 LM by Scaglietti

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• Auction house: RM Sotheby's
• Location: Paris
• Year: 2025
• Sold for: $36,344,960

Paris has more than its fair share of hugely valuable, historic artefacts being sold at auction, but 2025 saw the arrival of a very special Ferrari 250 LM by Scaglietti. This particular car had made its way over to an RM Sotheby’s auction in the French capital after spending a whopping 57 years as part of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum’s collection.

Being an ex-museum piece, there was little doubting the excellent condition of this 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans winner. The engine and gearbox are still original, and the car was sold with a tonne of accompanying paperwork dating all the way to the Sixties. This example was the sixth of only 32 250 LMs ever to be built

10. 1957 Ferrari 335 S

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• Auction house: Artcurial
• Location: Paris
• Year: 2016
• Sold for: $35,700,000 

The impossibly curvy Ferrari 335 S pictured here has a racing history as long as your arm, which is why it sold for £24.68 million ($35.77 million) back in 2016. Even today that stands as a record for an open-top car at auction.

Wind-in-your-hair driving was not a priority for this car when it was built. It was made to go racing and score wins and podiums, and it did plenty of it in everything from the Sebring 12 Hours to the Mille Miglia and even Le Mans. 

More of the world’s most expensive cars sold at auction

From exotic racers to limited-run supercars, here are some more cars which fetched eye-watering sums when being hammered away:

What makes these cars so expensive to buy at auction?

The eventual price achieved by a car at auction depends on a number of factors. The most expensive cars tend to tick all of the boxes below.

History

For some auction bidders, a car’s value is all about the story it can tell. This might be the achievements of the car itself or the racers who were behind the wheel. 

Machines driven by the likes of Sir Stirling Moss or Juan Manuel Fangio will always attract high prices. Cars with prestigious racing achievements under their belt also attract high prices and so do models that represent technological or design firsts.  

Originality and rarity

Auction bidders will be drawn towards a car's originality. Matching engine and chassis numbers, and even car tyres with the correct date stamps are all positive signs for a vehicle’s provenance. 

Buyers look for cars that are as close to the way they left the factory as possible. Tweaks and modifications aren’t desirable in this market. 

If the car in question is one of the first, or last, to have been made, so much the better. If it is one of very few remaining examples, this will also inflate the price. 

Condition

The top end of the car auction market is not a place for barn finds and project cars. Buyers splashing tens of millions on a car expect it to be in museum condition. If there’s any dirt or dust on show, it had better have been collected in the process of winning one of the world’s great motorsport events or deposited by the boots of a legendary driver.

Auto Express can help you sell your car at auction, but probably not for these kinds of prices. Our Sell My Car service offers your old car to our network of dealers who’ll bid on it. We’ll then pass the winning offer on to you to make the final decision. Why not give it a try?