Last month, one of Colin McRae’s old rally cars hit the auction block — specifically, his 1994 Subaru Prodrive 555 Group A machine, which was used until 1996 and then spent the following 25 years in storage. And whoever bought this machine spent $360,000 in bitcoin, CNBC reports.
There’s something a little cursed about paying for a classic piece of motorsport history with cryptocurrency, but I digress. Lloyds Classic Car Auctions decided to start accepting bitcoin as a viable form of currency back in June, so this is likely not the last classic we’re going to see paid for with crypto.
Initially, it wasn’t clear that the battered blue rally machine had historical provenance. It was is still outfitted with its original 2.0-liter turbo engine, six-speed manual gearbox, and active front differential. Lloyds claimed that after a little cleaning, the folks at automobile authenticator International Classic Automobile Authentication and Rating System (ICAARS) determined this wasn’t just any old Subaru rally car. Instead of being worth a few thousand dollars, it was thought it could be worth hundreds of thousands — or, as Lloyds Auctions Chief Operating Officer Lee Hames claimed, up to $1 million AUD (or $750,000 USD).
As it turned out, the final number — about $500,000 AUD, or $360,000 USD — fell a little short of the ultimate goal, but that’s still not a bad number for a mid-90s Subaru, the cockpit of which was graced by the likes of rally legends like Colin McRae and Carlos Sainz Sr.
If the name Lloyds sounds familiar, it’s because we wrote about their sale of some cars from Mad Max: Fury Road a few weeks back. Let’s hope the new owner of this legendary machine sees fit to put it back on stage before too long.