Some of the Most Expensive Cars
Artist Jeff Barnes, known for his work on the American Chopper cable TV series, wants to build a $70-million, one-off Rolls-Royce, readily laying claim to being the world’s most expensive automobile — though the first Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost has been insured for an impressive $50 million. As rapidly as automobile prices have risen in recent decades, collectors continue bidding up historic rarities like the 1957 Ferrari Testarossa Prototype, gaveled off for $16.39 million — an all-time auction record. Yet even $1 million was unheard of until recently, especially at the dealer showroom, until the 1992 debut of the McLaren F1, with its “base” price of $960,000 plus taxes, making it the first model to officially nudge into seven figures. By comparison, a Bugatti Royale that today might command $10 million at auction went for a mere $43,000 in 1927 – though that was about 40 times the average American’s income at the time.
Here’s a look at some of the most expensive cars of the last century at the price original buyers might have paid:
Most Expensive Retail Cars
2012 Koenigsegg Agera, $2.1 million (price is an estimate) Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport, $1.8 million
1994 Jaguar XJ220 $580,000
1992 McLaren F1, $960,000
1981 Rolls-Royce Wraith, $140,000
1979 Cadillac DeVille, $11,728
1979 Clenet II Convertible, $67,500
1975 Lamborghini Countach LP400, $74,500
1970 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow, $19,750
1960 Cadillac Biarritz Convertible, $7,401
1949 Lincoln Cosmopolitan, $3,186
1940 Cadillac Series 40-75 Town Car, $5,115
1940 Delahaye 135 MS Cabriolet Pourtout, $20,000
1936 Hispano-Suiza Type 68 J12 Cabriolet, $32,000
1933 Duesenberg, SJ Arlington Torpedo Sedan“Twenty Grand,” $20,000
1927 Bugatti Royale Type 41, $43,000
1923 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, $15,500
1910 Lozier Briarcliff, $7,750
1906 Cadillacs, i.e. Model K “Tulip,” up to $6,000
Five Most Expensive Cars Ever Sold at Auction
1. 1957 Ferrari Testarossa Prototype, $16.39 million
2. 1957 Ferrari Testarossa, $12.2 million
3. 1936 Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster, $11.77 million
4. 1968 Ford GT40, $11.7 million (most expensive American car ever sold at auction)
5. 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spyder, $10.9 million
Average Gas Prices
In the early years of the 20th century, automakers offered a mix of steam, electric, and gasoline-powered automobile. Gas won out when the first Texas gushers came in, helping drive fuel costs down from 30 cents in 1920 to just 20 cents a decade later — the equivalent of dropping from an inflation- adjusted $3.47 to $2.77 today. Over the next half-century, gas prices remained surprisingly flat at the pump, actually declining in terms of real value. Until the twin oil shocks of the 1970s, anyway, when the petro-equation permanently shifted. Even then, we’ve continued to see plenty of ups and downs, but most experts believe the future will point up — with $5 and even $6 an eventual reality as demand from emerging markets like China put more pressure on an ultimately diminishing global supply. This chart tracks nearly a century of what Americans have paid for regular gas (regular unleaded in recent decades) at the pump.
Note: Price is for regular gasoline (unleaded since 1991) Primary source: U.S. Dept. of Energy through 2000; U.S. Energy
Information Administration from 2005-2011
Year Price 2012 (adjusted)
1920 $0.30 $3.47
1925 $0.22 $2.91
1930 $0.20 $2.77
1935 $0.19 $3.21
1940 $0.18 $2.97
1945 $0.21 $2.70
1950 $0.27 $2.59
1955 $0.29 $2.50
1960 $0.31 $2.42
1965 $0.31 $2.28
1970 $0.36 $2.15
1975 $0.57 $2.45
1980 $1.25 $3.51
1985 $1.17 $2.52
1990 $1.13 $2.00
1995 $1.11 $1.68
2000 $1.49 $2.00
2005 $2.29 $2.71
2008 $3.27 $3.51
2011 $3.53 $3.63
Average New Car Prices
To revise that old adage, three things in life are certain: death, taxes, and higher new car prices. Yet there was a time when American buyers actually could anticipate paying less each year. A Model T that cost $850 in 1908 fell to $490 in 1914 — the year the first moving assembly line went into operation in Highland Park — and a 1925 Ford Runabout went for as little as $295. Odds are, we won’t see that happen again. American automakers could reach a dubious milestone in 2013; the price of the average new vehicle is likely to nudge, and perhaps surpass, $30,000 for the first time — after hitting an all-time high of $28,341 in 2012.
Here’s a look at the average price American motorists paid over the last century:
1900 – $1000
Data unreliable, various sources show anything from $280 to $4,000
1902 – $1,100
Franklin, a mid-range model
1905 – $1,450
Average new car
1908 – $850
Ford Model T, the original Runabout, pre-moving assembly line
1914 – $490
Ford Model T, first produced on the Highland Park assembly line
1925 – $295
Ford Roadster
1929 – $1,895
Studebaker President Eight Roadster
1930 – $640
Average new car
1939 – $700
Average new car
1945 – $1,020-$1,250
Time approximate, first cars after WWII, average new car
1960 – $2,600-$3,000
Average new car
1970 – $3,300
Average new car
1980 – $5,500-$7,200
Average new car
1990 – $16,000
Average new car
1998 – $19,522-$31,285
Average domestic/import according to energy.gov
2008 – $25,505
Average new car
2012 – $28,341
Average new car
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