What was the most expensive car sold at auction in 2017?

Most valuable British car at auction ever

1956 Aston Martin DBR1, £16.9m

Move over Jaguar D-Type, the new British star car is an Aston. DBR1 chassis number one (as driven by Carroll Shelby, Jack Brabham, Roy Salvadori, and Sir Stirling Moss) was sold by RM Sotheby’s at its Monterey sale in August after a battle by two private bidders. It was the first time a DBR1 had been offered for public sale. The D-Type it beat was sold in  Monterey the year before for $21.8m (about £16.4m) – $750,000 less than the Aston made.

World’s most sought-after Imp

1968 Hillman Imp Californian, £20,700

The estimate was £6-8000 but as the blurb at H&H’s Imperial War Museum Duxford sale in November said, “an unrepeatable opportunity for the Imp enthusiast”. Why so special? Original paint engine, upholstery… and just 82 miles from new! A record price for the model.

Record-breaking McLaren

1995 McLaren F1, £11.6m

It wasn’t long ago we were wondering if the wonder from Woking could hit £10m, now it has sailed past £11m. Bonhams did the deed, selling the one-owner US federalised version (one of just  seven to be road legal in the US) for a mind-blowing US$15,620,000 including the premium, making it second in all the Quail Lodge auctions only to the Aston DBR1. 

Gold-plated Blue Ovals

1980 Ford Escort, £97,875

Okay so it wasn’t your common or garden Escort but even so…that price is definitely a record, even for a Mk2 RS2000 Custom. And proving it wasn’t a fluke, Silverstone Auctions did it all again at the same Classic Motor Show sale at the NEC with another Escort. A Cosworth Lux with 837 miles from new, which sold for …£91,125.

First Chiron at auction

2017 Bugatti Chiron, £2.8m

What’s the new Bugatti worth? Now we know, after the first one came up for auction at RM Sotheby’s Icons sale in New York. New ones are all sold out so this was a chance for someone to fulfil their 1,480bhp, 261mph hypercar dreams – although at $3,772,500 it cost a million or so more than a new one would have done.

Out of this world Galaxie

1963 Ford Galaxie 500, £471,900

There was applause and cheering when the hammer dropped at the Bonhams Revival sale in September as the  ex-Willment Racing Team Galaxie 500 of 'Gentleman Jack' Sears found a new home, for a world record price. The 7.0-litre titan of the British Saloon Car Championship more than doubled its presale estimate.

Record-setting sci-fi props

1956 ‘Jeep’ (plus Robby the Robot), £4m

The star billing here was always going to be Robby the Robot,  a pinnacle of 1950s futurism from the sci-fi series Forbidden Planet; Robby’s ‘Jeep’ (actually a Crosley) was being thrown in. Together the robot suit (which operated with an actor inside it) and the Jeep sold for an astonishing world record price of  US$5,375,000 at its TCM sale in New York in November. But then as Bonhams said: “Robby ranks among the single most iconic props in science fiction film history.”

Motorcycle project of the year

1923 Indian Scout, £10,650

Well, to be fair, this is more a pile of bits belonging to an Indian Scout, though it was a Scout that raced at Brooklands in period. Surely now project of the year for the lucky (?) new owner who paid twice the estimate to buy it at the H&H National Motorcycle Museum sale. 

Ten million pound Porsche

1970 Porsche 917K, £10.5m

Race car auction record of the year goes to Gooding and Company which sold Jo Siffert’s 917K – ultimate sports racer of its day – at its Pebble Beach sale (helping the auction gross an incredible $91m). This 917 didn’t even race at Le Mans – though it was used, perhaps by Steve McQueen, in the eponymous movie. The Porsche pin-up, in Gulf livery, sold for US$14,080,000. 

Most valuable Dino ever

1965 Ferrari Dino Berlinetta Speciale,  £3.86m

Everyone knows 246 GT Dinos have shot up, but  you would be able to get a dozen of them for what Artcurial sold this Dino for at its Retromobile sale in Paris early in 2017. With commission it went for €4,390,400 – and it doesn’t actually have a working engine. It’s Pininfarina’s first mid-engined concept car for Ferrari, so the forefather of a whole generation of mid-engined berlinettas, from original Dino to today’s 488 GTB. A real museum piece. 

World’s most expensive Peugeot

1914 Peugeot L45 Grand Prix Racer, £5.4m

Bonhams was charged with selling the extraordinary Bothwell collection of pre-Great War racing cars in the US in November, and there was no doubting the star – the unique and hugely influential Peugeot which sold for US$7.26m, a record for a Peugeot.

Most valuable modern-era F1 car

Ferrari F2001, £5.6m

A private collector snapped up Michael Schumacher’s 2001 steed, the car that took him to nine GP wins that year and his fourth World Drivers’ Championship. At US$7,504,000 the car sailed past its estimate to set a record for a modern-era F1 car at auction, more than doubling the previous mark. The sale was also notable for being the  first car to be sold by RM in… a Sotheby’s contemporary art auction. 

Ultimate people carrier

1943 International Harvester M5, £135,000

Just the thing for the school run. In a war zone maybe. The mighty M5 is a half-track personnel carrier last used in anger in the liberation of Europe after the Second World War. Its restoration has taken 27 years! And it certainly won someone over, for H&H sold it for £45,000 over its estimate at its Duxford sale.

A Cadillac according to Trump

1988 Cadillac Trump Golden Series, £54,625

The US President’s brief foray into automotive special editions resulted in just two limos being made, one of which came up for sale at the Bonhams Members’ Meeting sale at Goodwood in March.  One buyer trumped everyone with a winning bid five times the car’s guide price. And it wasn’t Donald Trump…

Rare Italian race winner

1966 Ferrari 275 GTB/C, £10.8 million

Single-cam Ferrari 275 coupes don’t come much better than this competition evolution of the V12 berlinetta, one of just 12 made and a car with plenty of class/overall wins in Italian domestic racing. The Pebble Beach award winner sold for $14,520,000, another star lot in Gooding and Co’s 2017 Pebble Beach sale. 

The one million euro off-roader

2017 Mercedes-Maybach G650 Landaulet, £900,000

More than a million euros for a Merc G Wagen? Crazy, but then it was all for charity. This G Wagen was the 99th and last special AMG Landaulet version of the enduring 4x4, complete with S-Class massaging seats and 630bhp. Almost doubling its presale estimate in the Bonhams Zoute sale in Belgium, all proceeds went to the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation.

Hottest street Porsche

1998 Porsche 911 GT1,  £4.25 million

The best, and rarest, Porsches continued to make big money in 2017, none more so than the hottest 911 of 20 years ago: the GT1 Strassenversion. One of just 20 street versions of the GT1 Le Mans winner, the  $5,665,000 sale car was said to be in original condition and have covered just 8000km. The twin turbo 544bhp machine was the top-priced lot at Gooding and Co’s Amelia Island sale in the US in March. 

World’s most valuable E-Type

1963 Jaguar E-Type Lightweight, £6m

It’s been a good year for E-Types in general, and two in particular. The first – sold by Bonhams at Scottsdale in January –  was a ’63 Lightweight that won the Australian GT championship in period. At US$7,370,000 it became the most valuable E-Type and most valuable post-1960 Jaguar ever to sell at auction. But it held its records only until Bonhams’ Quail Lodge auction in August, when the ex-Team Cunningham Lightweight, Jag’s entry in the ’63 Le Mans, was sold…for a round US$8m (today about £6m).

Typical, you wait ages for a Lightweight then two come along at once…