To some people, cars are like art. To those of us who spend $50 on a painting for our living room, we will never understand the millions that are spent on priceless art every year. It is the same in the automotive world. While we can understand spending $10,000 or $20,000 on a reliable car that completes all the tasks we require well, it is hard to understand the people who spend millions on them. Cars like the Aston Martin Vanquish which are just incredibly beautiful and high performance will cost around $300,000. To spend this amount of money on a car is to the average person, insane. Yet to some $300,000 is just a drop in the ocean. Let’s take a look at the most expensive car in the world.
The 1937 Bugatti Type 57SC Gangloff Drop Head Coupe is unofficially the most expensive car in the world. It is one of only three made and its unique design and indication of where Bugatti would take their future work has made it a prized asset. One of these three cars was destroyed in a train accident in 1950. The second was sold to a museum for $38 million dollars a few years ago. The third is owned by Ralph Lauren. Ralph Lauren purchased the magnificent vehicle in 1988 and then hired an entire team to restore it to its original glory. Based on a recent show, they did exemplary work as the car is in almost the exact same condition as how it was produced nearly 100 years ago.
The car is in many ways a piece of history. It highlights the engineering prowess before World War Two. The car used a new material for the panels that were strong but difficult to work with. When the car was first released people didn’t take it seriously. Yet as Bugatti stuck with this method and became renowned for its quality, people began to look at the 1937 model differently. It became the ultimate prize for car lovers. It was in car terms, like Dylan picking up an electric guitar, it came before its time and changed the world forever.
Ralph Lauren loves the car so much that he recently developed an entire line of watches in its honor, based on the interior of the car. However, there is now some debate over the car’s value and whether it is really the most expensive car in the world.
On June 5th, 2019 a Ferrari 250 GTO sold for $70 million. This made it the most expensive car in the world. The car is allegedly one of the finest examples of the GTO ever made. Some car experts have said that a GTO will sell for nine figures in a few year’s time. While this may give it the title of the most expensive car in the world, it is likely not worth more than the 1937 Bugatti.
The Bugatti has not had a new valuation in a number of years but if the GTO prices have increased as dramatically as they clearly have we can expect the Bugatti to be increasing rapidly as well. Considering the quality of the Lauren car we can expect that it is worth an exceptional amount. Many car valuations estimate that it would now be worth in excess of $120 million.
The insane amount that these cars are worth show that they are not valued based on performance or value but on beauty and exclusivity. To have one of these cars is to have lived like no one else in the world. I guess that is the point.