Most Expensive Cars Ever Sold at Auction

About This Dataset

This chart ranks the most expensive cars ever sold at public auction, by hammer price in US dollars. The list is dominated by rare mid-20th-century Mercedes-Benz and Ferrari racing and grand-touring machines, whose scarcity, competition history and design have made them the ultimate collector trophies.

✨ AI Insight

The 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe stands in a class of its own, selling for around $143 million in 2022 - nearly triple the next-highest price and by far the most expensive car ever sold. Only two of these coupes were ever built, explaining the extraordinary figure. Below it, Ferrari absolutely dominates: the marque takes seven of the top ten places, led by a 1962 Ferrari 330 LM/250 GTO at $51.7 million. The 250 GTO alone appears four separate times, cementing its status as the most coveted collector car of all. A second Mercedes, the 1954 W196R Formula One streamliner ($53.9M), ranks second. The concentration of 1950s-60s racing thoroughbreds shows that provenance and rarity, not modern performance, command the highest prices in the collector-car world.

Source: Wikipedia (List of most expensive cars sold at auction)

Key Findings

Auto-computed highlights from this dataset

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Mercedes 300 SLR Uhlenhaut (1955) leads with 143 in All Time.

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Average value in All Time: 51 · median: 38.

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Gap in All Time: Mercedes 300 SLR Uhlenhaut (1955) is 4.8× larger than Mercedes W196 (1954).