The British have always managed to pull off aggressive and stunningly stylish cars, and it seems they’re beginning to be appreciated in an all new light. Just a day after the first American-ized McLaren F1 became the most expensive British car ever sold, this 1956 Aston Martin DBR1 beat it out to claim the title for itself.
That McLaren F1 sold for $15.6 million at Bonham’s Pebble Beach auction on Friday, so for another British car to come along and beat it for the “most expensive ever” title so soon, it must be a very special car.
And it is! This DBR1 is the very first of five DBR1 models produced, and it did win the 1959 Nürburgring 1,000 kilometer race. It’s been raced by Sir Stirling Moss, Carroll Shelby and Jack Brabham, according to the RM Sotheby’s listing.
The car sold for the ridiculous, title-stealing sum of $22.5 million at auction this past weekend at Pebble Beach. That price includes the original engine, but the car as displayed actually features a modern engine ordered so the car could race in the Goodwood Revival without putting unnecessary wear on what it left the factory with.
Stirling Moss once called the DBR1 the most important Aston Martin ever made, and this specific model is the car he drove in 2013 for the company’s centenary celebrations at the Nürburgring. Is there any other British car from the pages of time with any hope of taking the “most expensive ever” title now? I’m coming up blank.