10 most expensive cars sold at auction in 2019

1. 1994 McLaren F1 'LM-Specification' – $19,805,000 (prices all in local currency) – RM Sotheby's

Described by auction house RM Sotheby’s as “the best imaginable iteration of an already perfect machine”, the British-designed, German-engined three-seater made an incredible $19,805,000 at RM Sotheby’s Monterey 2019 sale in August. No cars that sold at auction anywhere in the world in 2019 made more than that.

What makes this F1 so much more valuable than others, allowing  it to outrank even recently-sold British gold-standard cars like the Aston Martin DBR1 and Jaguar D-type in the value stakes?

This F1 is the rarest of the rare, one of only two of the 64 F1 road cars made converted by the factory in period to Le Mans-spec. Known as the F1 LM-spec or High Downforce car, it’s virtually the Le Mans-winning F1 GTR in a form you can drive to the shops – complete with unrestricted 780bhp V12, race suspension and race aero package including a giant fixed rear wing.

The astonishing sale price means more records for the Gordon Murray designed F1, which in the past has famously won Le Mans and held the production car top-speed record. As of this year the F1 is now also the most valuable British car ever sold at auction as well as top-priced McLaren and the world’s most valuable modern-era supercar.

For RM Sotheby’s Alexander Weaver, the sale puts the F1 into the elite company of what for many years has been the world’s most valuable car.

“The ownership exclusivity and ‘holy grail’ admiration associated with the F1 is second only to the Ferrari 250 GTO,” Weaver says. “No other car stirs more emotions and evokes more excitement.”

The Macca still a has a way to go to catch its 1960s Italian rival, however: a 250 GTO sold in 2018 for more than double the F1 price, at $48m. Without any public GTO sales in 2019, this year’s top 10 world auction tally was well down on the previous year’s: about $100m worth against $163m in 2018. Various economic uncertainties around the world this year could not have helped.

Here are the remaining nine cars that made the most money at auction this year. Note: owing to volatility of exchange rates, sale prices, which include the premium, are shown in local currencies. 

2. 1939 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 – €16,745 600 – Artcurial

The classic Alfa Touring Berlinetta was second most valuable car sold at auction in 2019. It was sold at Artcurial’s Retromobile sale in Paris by the son of the collector who bought it in 1976 and who owned and cherished it ever since. What did he pay for it 43 years ago? The equivalent of €10,000… At almost €17m, or around £14.9m, the sale makes the Alfa – a true supercar of its day with an unmatched combination of beauty, speed and luxury – as the third most valuable prewar car ever sold at auction.

3. 1958 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spyder – $9,905,000 – Gooding & Co

The year’s most expensive auction-bought Ferrari was a superb example of the famous Italian convertible which Gooding sold for just short of the 10 mill mark at its glamorous Pebble Beach auction in California – very much home turf for the “Cali Spyder”. An early long wheelbase example with covered headlights, it raced in period in the US.

4. 2014 Lamborghini Veneno roadster – 8.28 million Swiss francs – Bonhams

The fastest, rarest and many would say the most outrageous modern Lamborghini duly did the business for Bonhams in a sensational supercar sale in Geneva at the end of September. Making more than CHF8m – around £6.7m at the time – the 221mph convertible sealed its reputation as the most collectible modern-day Lambo by becoming the most expensive example of the marque ever sold at auction. One of just nine roadster versions of the 740bhp V12 that Lamborghini came up with to mark its 50^th anniversary in 2013, the car was sold at Bonhams’ Bonmont sale in Switzerland as one of 25 supercars seized by the Swiss authorities and all sold in aid of charitable causes in Equatorial Guinea.

5. 1962 Ferrari 250 GT SWB – $8,145,000 – RM Sotheby’s

No fewer than four Ferrari 250s appear in the top 10 this year and the top selling lot was this Berlinetta that RM Sotheby’s sold in Monterey. Fully restored, Ferrari Classiche certified and with a distinguished concours record – all just as American buyers like it – the car was offered at no reserve, a risk given a volatile market. But showing the resilience of Ferrari 250 SWB values it made an impressive $8m-plus, or a little over £6m.

6. 1965 Ford GT40 – $7,650,000 – RM Sotheby’s

In at No 6 is the third of RM’s star lots from its glittering 2019 Monterey sale, and what a delight to see both a Ford and such a rarity in the top 10. It’s a GT40 but no ordinary GT40. It is the prototype GT40 convertible, the first of five roadsters built in period and the only one thought to have survived in its original form. It was built for Shelby American as a test and development car and was driven by Carroll Shelby and Jim Clark. It was even tested at Silverstone by Sir John Whitmore and Dickie Attwood. At this price – about £5.8m today – it goes down as one of the most expensive Fords ever.

7. 1963 Ferrari 250 GT SWB – $7,595,000 – Gooding & Co

Gooding’s sale in Scottsdale, Arizona, provided the year’s seventh top seller in the ever-shapely form of a 250 GT short-wheelbase, one of the last SWB berlinettas made and a relative rarity for being a Lusso (luxury) model: complete with comfort seats and leather trimmed dashboard.

8. 2017 Pagani Zonda Aether – $6,812,500 – RM Sotheby’s

It wasn’t just McLarens and Lamborghinis that made the supercar auction headlines in 2019. One of the works of automotive art from Horacio Pagani also hit the big time, selling for way over its reserve price at RM Sotheby’s first auction in Abu Dhabi, held at the Yas Marina circuit over the weekend of the grand prix. Forty blue-chip collector cars made up the sale, raising $31.3 million, but the star was the 131st Zonda made, in Aether form with six-speed manual gearbox and 1,400km from new. Its sale price makes it the most valuable Pagani Zonda ever.

9. 1958 Ferrari 250 GT Series 1 cabriolet – $6,800,000 – Gooding & Co

Beautiful Italian sports cars of the 1950s don’t get much more beautiful, Italian or sporty than this, and so it proved at Gooding’s Pebble Beach sale in the summer when this Series 1 cabriolet sold for $6.8m. It’s one of 40 Series 1 cabrios built but one of only five with the distinctive chrome side air vents. The 240bhp V12’s first owner was a prince and it has only had two keepers over the past three decades.

10. 2002 Ferrari F2002 F1 – $6,643,750 – RM Sotheby’s

Fittingly one of the cars lined up on the grid for RM’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix sale was an F1 car – nothing less than Michael Schumacher’s championship-winning 2002 Ferrari. Victorious in three grands prix in the 2002 season, the car secured Schumacher his fifth Drivers’ World Championship. It also secured over $6.6m, making it the second most valuable Formula 1 car ever sold at auction.