What's the Most Valuable Car?

[Downhill Dino]

So I pondered the question, "what's the most valuable car?" A Ferrari 250 GTO sold recently for 52 million. But is it the most valuable? What of cars like Senna's famous MP4/4? The first Mercedes? Auto Union? Something that is priceless? Just a few things to think about.

What's the most valuable car to you?

 

[Dan]

I don't like Bugattis that much, probably due to the obnoxious Veyron fanboys, but I think the Bugatti Type 57 and other Bugatti racecars are priceless, in my opinion.

 

[Badasp5.0]

I don't like Bugattis that much, probably due to the obnoxious Veyron fanboys, but I think the Bugatti Type 57 and other Bugatti racecars are priceless, in my opinion.

That would be my guess too.

 

[Slash]

First thing that came to mind was the $5.5 million Shelby 427 S/C Twin supercharged that pumped out 800 something horsepower and belonged to Shelby himself. But $5.5 million seems week compared to that Ferrari.

 

[McLaren]

Finding out something like the value of Senna's car would be difficult without having something less extravagant to base it on. Luckily, 1 such car was up for sale.

The Ferrari F2002, piloted by Schumacher & Barrichello to a 1-2 finish in Drivers & another Constructors championship. There's no doubt this is one of the greatest F1 cars ever built with a widely known manufacturer & driver behind it giving it a lot of pedigree.

However, it ended up selling for $2,255,000.

So, if they were to ever auction off Senna's MP4/4, you'd have to consider the value of the F2002 above. Not only was it a Championship car, but it was also a dominant one (though the MP4/4 winning everything but 1 race & a pole position will bring more value). And it was also piloted by a world famous F1 driver.

The key difference there however, is not who was a better driver or who won more championships, but who is alive & who isn't. And with Senna having passed near 20 years ago, it adds a tremendous amount of value to the car because everyone knows what makes it so alluring was partially due to Senna's ability to drive it. Of course, it's hard (& a bit morbid) to put a price on 20 years of being deceased to the car. That being said, I don't think Senna's name & the utter dominance of the car would propel it anywhere near $5 million over the F2002, but at the same time, I kind of can just because his name speaks volumes to the sport as the (debatable) world's greatest F1 driver.

 

[Pupik]

...I think the Bugatti Type 57 and other Bugatti racecars are priceless, in my opinion.

Comparing it to today's figures, it was quite mass-produced. As were racing cars back then; they might have had a competition shelf life of 3-5 years, but the Type 57 had a run of over a decade. And this was at the height of a marque surviving on their racing successes. Doesn't mean it's not valuable, but there's probably a few dozen original examples around.

 

[Dan]

Even comparing it to today's figures, it was quite mass-produced. Doesn't mean it's not valuable, but there's probably a few dozen original examples around.

Eh. Ah well. I still think seeing a rusty old Type 57 being pulled out of a barn, then being sold for millions is cool.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

While racing history is held to the highest regard by racing history enthusiasts, they are generally not the ones with the real money. There are surely cars that are far more universally historically significant than a car that won some races in the 1980s/1990s, even if the pilot was a legend among men.

I remember reading that 'the' (there is only one) Rolls Royce Silver Ghost was valued at over $50 million. This was at least a decade ago to boot.

Dubious claims hold it's insured value at $200,000,000 USD. I don't have any evidence of that, but I wouldn't doubt it. It's widely considered the most valuable automobile on the planet.

 

[miata13B]

While racing history is held to the highest regard by racing history enthusiasts, they are generally not the ones with the real money. There are surely cars that are far more universally historically significant than a car that won some races in the 1980s/1990s, even if the pilot was a legend among men.

Not discounting you in anyway here, but what about Fangio's 1954 Formula one fetching 19.6 million pounds? Check the link here, although I am not sure it is the car that actually has the value here. I think it is more the history that adds the value to this car. Interesting that a car he only raced and won three GPs in 1954 after changing teams from Maserati would go for this much. This is confirmed with the chassis number '00006/54'. Amazing to think Mercedes must have hit such a high point in racing history in 1954, just to go into 1955 not knowing how racing would forever be changed...

With the commission charge, the total price was 20,896,800.00 pounds. THat equates out to 33,580,681.43 Dollars. I wonder if the buyer would have a meeting with me over meer plans for a vacation resort town for less then 1/3 the cost of that car... we can dream right?

On the other side of this question, I think each and everyone of us can answer it differently. Nothing will ever be worth a certain 1993 Miata to me.

 

[Lotus Exige S]

1958 250 GT LWB California Spider
Rank: 18

Price: $8,250,000

Auction Company: Gooding & Co.

Sale Location: Scottsdale, Arizona

Date Sold: 01/18/2013

 

[Lotus Exige S]

1931 Bugatti Type 41 Royale
Rank: 11

Price: $9,800,000

Auction Company: Christie's

Sale Location: London, U.K.

Date Sold: 11/17/1987

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

Not discounting you in anyway here, but what about Fangio's 1954 Formula one fetching 19.6 million pounds? Check the link here, although I am not sure it is the car that actually has the value here. I think it is more the history that adds the value to this car. Interesting that a car he only raced and won three GPs in 1954 after changing teams from Maserati would go for this much. This is confirmed with the chassis number '00006/54'. Amazing to think Mercedes must have hit such a high point in racing history in 1954, just to go into 1955 not knowing how racing would forever be changed...

With the commission charge, the total price was 20,896,800.00 pounds. THat equates out to 33,580,681.43 Dollars. I wonder if the buyer would have a meeting with me over meer plans for a vacation resort town for less then 1/3 the cost of that car... we can dream right?

On the other side of this question, I think each and everyone of us can answer it differently. Nothing will ever be worth a certain 1993 Miata to me.

Again, while that is quite a lot of money, somebody paid an order of magnitude more money for this:

Racing history isn't as universally appreciated as many other forms of history.

 

[miata13B]

Again, while that is quite a lot of money, somebody paid an order of magnitude more money for this: ... - > Racing history isn't as universally appreciated as many other forms of history.

Maybe my post was not as clear as I could have made it (it was extremely early in the morning before I got sleep), I did not disagree with you I was just going with a car that does have a lot of history behind it within the short timeline that the automobile has been around. Artist have been around since the dawn of man. I would hope that fine art would fetch more money than a automobile monetary-wise. You can't compare the two in terms of value.

The automobile has a small footprint in mankind's history and there should be things that are far more valuable in this world then an automobile. I should have gone more into detail with my last statement there versus leave a bigger size of the message behind Fangio's Formula One car. That Miata is priceless to me compared to any car made now or at the beginning of the automobile's lifespan. It can not be replaced after being totalled, although gone I still have some great memories with that car that will never go away.