These Are the 10 Most Expensive Cars Ever Sold at Auction

This one-of-two 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé just sold for an absolutely insane $143 million. To put that in perspective, it’s nearly $100 million more than the previous record (which you will soon see).

This SLR was based on the two-time World Championship-winning W196R Grand Prix car that was piloted by F1 legend Juan Manuel Fangio. However, it had a larger 3-liter engine for sports car racing. In 1955, it ended up winning the World Sportscar Championship.

After that program was shelved by MB, the remaining SLRs were turned into coupes that were meant to be used as daily drivers that were capable of 180 mph.

This 250 GTO was sold by RM Sotheby’s in late August of 2018. It’s the third GTO ever built, was raced extensively all over the world, and won a whole lot. Some of those wins include the 1962 Italian GT Championship and class wins at the 1963 and ‘64 Targo Florio.

This GTO was also upgraded in-period by Scaglietti, both under the hood and on the surface. That converted it from a Series I can to a far rarer Series II. When you think of “most expensive cars ever” this is probably what comes to mind.

Look, guys! Another 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO. While these two cars may look similar from the outside, they are in fact fairly different. This one won the GT World Championship series on its first try.

This one sports a 3-liter V12 Colombo V13 engine that produces just about 300 horsepower. It’s the 19th GTO out of the 36 that were ever produced, and it ended up finishing second at the 1962 Tour de France race.

Until this car was sold by Bonhams in 2014, it was owned by the same family for 49 straight years.

This 1956 Ferrari 335 S was sold by Artcurial in February of 2016. It’s just one of four 335 S models ever built, making it one of the rarest cars ever made. It’s powered by a 4.1-liter 400(ish) horsepower V12 that can take it to a top speed of 186 mph. That’s insanely fast even by today’s standards.

It’s driven in the 1957 Sebring 12 Hour, the Millie Miglia and 24 Hours of Le Mans. Needless to say, the 335 S got around. In fact, the 335 S ended the Mille Miglia after one of its drivers got into a fatal accident. How’s that for legacy?

This 1954 Mercedes-Benz W196R sold at a Bonhams auction in July 2013. It was monumentally important to German racing, as it marked the 1954 comeback of the country to Grand Prix racing after something happened in the ‘40s.

The W196R was dominant, and it gave Juan Manuel Fangio his second Formula 1 World Drivers’ Championship. The company built just 14 W196s, and only 10 are still around today. Right now, Mercedes owns six of those cars.

It was powered by a straight-eight engine making right around 300 horsepower and could get to nearly 185 mph.

This 1956 Ferrari 290 MM was sold by RM Sotheby’s in December 2015, which means it was someone’s very nice Christmas gift.

It’s one of just four 290 MMs ever made. This particular car was built for Juan Manuel Fangio (a name we have seen a lot on this list). He placed fourth behind the wheel of this car at the 1956 Millie Miglia. That may not sound great, but you should keep in mind 426 cars entered the race that year.

It’s fitted with a 3.5-liter V12 that produced over 320 horsepower. It’s also quite pretty, which is a nice little bonus.

This 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4*S NART Spider was sold by RM Sotheby’s in August 2013. It was originally built as the spider version of the 275 GTB coupe, which was made at the request of Ferrari’s North American dealer.

There were only 10 NART Spiders ever built, which is 15 fewer than originally intended. NART stands for North American Racing Team, which was run by Luigi Chinetti. Under the beautiful skin is the same V12 and running gear found the in the 275 Coupe.

This 1964 Ferrari 275 GTB/C Speciale was sold by RM Sotheby’s in August 2014. While not as valuable, it is actually rarer than its 250 GTO sibling. According to EVO, this Speciale had extra-thin-gauge alloy bodywork.

Not only was it the first of three 275 GTB/C Speciales ever made, it was also the first Ferrari ever fitted with the 3.3-liter Columbo V12. It’s a true value at $26.4 million.

As an aside, more Ferraris need to be grey. That is just excellent.

This Aston Martin DBR1 was sold by RM Sotheby’s in August of 2017, and I mean just look at it. It doesn’t get better than this, folks. It really doesn’t.

This is actually the first of five DBR1s ever produced. It won the 1959 Nürburgring 1000km. At various times it was raced by Stirling Moss, Carroll Shelby and Jack Brabham being the wheel. Talk about an all-star team. It was also a sister car to the 1959 Le Mans winner.

This particular DBR1 came fitted with a non-original racing engine, but don’t worry, the original one was also offered with the listing.

Rounding out our list is a second 1956 Ferrari 290 MM. This one was sold by RM Sotheby’s in December of 2018... another great Christmas gift. It also happened to be almost three years to the day after the other 290 MM sold.

This one was an official Scuderia Ferrari Works car in 1956 and 1957. It had podium finishes at the Mille Miglia and 1000 KM of Buenos Aires. It’s actually the final of four 290 MM’s built, and one of only three surviving.

It was restored by Ferrari Classiche to its 1957 12 Hours of Sebring livery.