Plus US Cars
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Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
1935 Duesenberg SJ Town Car
2015 SOLD for $ 3.6M by RM Sotheby's
The bodywork company of Walter Murphy in Pasadena took benefit from its vicinity to Hollywood. After it closed in 1932, its successor Bohman & Schwartz applied the recommendations of Newport. An elegant 1935 Duesenberg Town car equipped in SJ from factory was sold for $ 3.6M by RM Sotheby's on May 2, 2015, lot 231.
This car originally refused by Mae West was bought new by Ethel Mars, widow of the founder of the Mars Candy company, who used her great wealth to assemble the best American team of racing horses.
This car originally refused by Mae West was bought new by Ethel Mars, widow of the founder of the Mars Candy company, who used her great wealth to assemble the best American team of racing horses.
Chevrolet Corvette
1
1957 Super Sport
2025 SOLD for $ 7.7M by RM Sotheby's
Every year from 1949, General Motors was organizing a show to display to the public the automobile of the future. It was so successful that from 1953 the exhibition is traveling under the cleverly chosen name Motorama.
The Chevrolet Corvette was unveiled at the 1953 Motorama. Conceived by Harley Earl, the pioneer of the concept car who had become Head of Design at GM, it was a promise for a fully American sports car. The Corvette is one of the biggest and most enduring success stories in the history of the automobile.
The 1954 Motorama offered some varied examples of fiberglass bodywork. Earl designed a massive coupe with an aerodynamic shape, named Bonneville Special and assigned to Pontiac that had long been a division of GM.
Inspired by advances in aeronautics, the Bonneville Special is an elitist concept, unlike the basic Corvette. Its name is inspired by the salt flats of Bonneville UT where Malcolm Campbell had established his land speed record in 1935.
Two units of the Bonneville Special were built for the 1954 Motorama. One of them was sold for $ 3.3M by Barrett-Jackson on January 17, 2015, lot 2500.
Despite the considerable power of the GM group, they feel very nervous at Chevrolet in 1955. Their arch-rival Ford is winning some market share with the Thunderbird, offering a variety of options that appeal to customers.
The inclusion of four Chevrolet Corvette at the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1956 created the surprise. One of them, the most powerful of the four, is the prototype of the Corvette SR with an engine specially enhanced for the race by the Chevrolet engineers.
The challenge was audacious. Designed in the utmost secrecy, this prototype had not been tested in endurance before Sebring. Cleverly, Chevrolet had just hired a highly skilled driver, John Fitch, who carefully avoided all risk of failure during the race and led this car to the winning place in its class.
Everything was now ready to launch a marketing campaign. The victorious prototype was presented as the car that saved the Corvette brand. This car passed at Mecum on January 25, 2014, lot S132.
For the next season, 1957, GM appreciated that only a lightweight Corvette built specifically for racing had a chance of winning against the international competitors. The new project, numbered XP-64, starts the new range of the Corvette SS, meaning Super Sport. It had been entrusted to the design engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov.
A test car with minimal bodywork and a fully assembled roadster are built for the XP-64, inspired from the Jaguar D-Type but fitted with the new Chevrolet engine, a 4.6 liter V8 replacing the straight 6. The one off completed XP-64 was raced at Sebring in March 1957. It retired for technical issues after 23 laps.
In June the three major US auto manufacturers agreed for safety reasons to end factory-supported racing efforts. This decision terminated the XP-64 project. It did not enter Le Mans.
In 1967 the XP-64 SS was presented by GM to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum. From their collection, it was sold for $ 7.7M from a lower estimate of $ 5M by RM Sotheby's on February 27, 2025, lot 107.
The test car was used as a prototype for the Sting Ray racer.
The image is shared by Wikimedia with attribution : Charles, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
The Chevrolet Corvette was unveiled at the 1953 Motorama. Conceived by Harley Earl, the pioneer of the concept car who had become Head of Design at GM, it was a promise for a fully American sports car. The Corvette is one of the biggest and most enduring success stories in the history of the automobile.
The 1954 Motorama offered some varied examples of fiberglass bodywork. Earl designed a massive coupe with an aerodynamic shape, named Bonneville Special and assigned to Pontiac that had long been a division of GM.
Inspired by advances in aeronautics, the Bonneville Special is an elitist concept, unlike the basic Corvette. Its name is inspired by the salt flats of Bonneville UT where Malcolm Campbell had established his land speed record in 1935.
Two units of the Bonneville Special were built for the 1954 Motorama. One of them was sold for $ 3.3M by Barrett-Jackson on January 17, 2015, lot 2500.
Despite the considerable power of the GM group, they feel very nervous at Chevrolet in 1955. Their arch-rival Ford is winning some market share with the Thunderbird, offering a variety of options that appeal to customers.
The inclusion of four Chevrolet Corvette at the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1956 created the surprise. One of them, the most powerful of the four, is the prototype of the Corvette SR with an engine specially enhanced for the race by the Chevrolet engineers.
The challenge was audacious. Designed in the utmost secrecy, this prototype had not been tested in endurance before Sebring. Cleverly, Chevrolet had just hired a highly skilled driver, John Fitch, who carefully avoided all risk of failure during the race and led this car to the winning place in its class.
Everything was now ready to launch a marketing campaign. The victorious prototype was presented as the car that saved the Corvette brand. This car passed at Mecum on January 25, 2014, lot S132.
For the next season, 1957, GM appreciated that only a lightweight Corvette built specifically for racing had a chance of winning against the international competitors. The new project, numbered XP-64, starts the new range of the Corvette SS, meaning Super Sport. It had been entrusted to the design engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov.
A test car with minimal bodywork and a fully assembled roadster are built for the XP-64, inspired from the Jaguar D-Type but fitted with the new Chevrolet engine, a 4.6 liter V8 replacing the straight 6. The one off completed XP-64 was raced at Sebring in March 1957. It retired for technical issues after 23 laps.
In June the three major US auto manufacturers agreed for safety reasons to end factory-supported racing efforts. This decision terminated the XP-64 project. It did not enter Le Mans.
In 1967 the XP-64 SS was presented by GM to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum. From their collection, it was sold for $ 7.7M from a lower estimate of $ 5M by RM Sotheby's on February 27, 2025, lot 107.
The test car was used as a prototype for the Sting Ray racer.
The image is shared by Wikimedia with attribution : Charles, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
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2
1967 L-88
2014 SOLD for $ 3.85M by Barrett-Jackson
Without interruption since 1953, Chevrolet uses the designation of Corvette for its sports cars. The engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov found his vocation in improving the Corvette through his mission as high performance director of Chevrolet, GM's largest division.
Duntov nevertheless failed to convince his bosses with the Corvette Grand Sport, built in five units in 1963 and disowned by GM.
In 1967, the use of the new L-88 427 CI engine was the culmination of the second generation Corvette pending the imminent release of the third generation. Designed by Duntov and his team to counter-attack the Cobra, the overpowering engine is nominally 430 hp but it can reach 560 hp at 6400 rpm.
This time Chevrolet accepts production but refuses marketing. The Corvette L-88 will be sold exclusively to previously known customers who will use it on the track and not on the road. GM certainly did not regret when it stopped in 1969 the production of the best performing of its commercial Corvettes for reasons of compliance with the new pollutant emission standards.
During the first year, 1967, only 20 L-88 cars were built. They are highly regarded by collectors. A convertible was sold for $ 3.5M by Mecum on September 7, 2013. A coupe was sold for $ 3.85M by Barrett-Jackson in January 2014.
On January 18, 2017, Worldwide Auctioneers sold a very rare 1967 RPO L-88 roadster, RPO meaning that it was originally equipped with several options that include in that specific case a silver pearl exterior finish unique for the roadsters of this series. This expertly restored car was sold for $ 1,98M, lot 32.
A 1967 sunfire yellow L-88 with 357 miles on the odometer was sold for $ 1.8M by Mecum on March 9, 2024, lot S143.
Duntov nevertheless failed to convince his bosses with the Corvette Grand Sport, built in five units in 1963 and disowned by GM.
In 1967, the use of the new L-88 427 CI engine was the culmination of the second generation Corvette pending the imminent release of the third generation. Designed by Duntov and his team to counter-attack the Cobra, the overpowering engine is nominally 430 hp but it can reach 560 hp at 6400 rpm.
This time Chevrolet accepts production but refuses marketing. The Corvette L-88 will be sold exclusively to previously known customers who will use it on the track and not on the road. GM certainly did not regret when it stopped in 1969 the production of the best performing of its commercial Corvettes for reasons of compliance with the new pollutant emission standards.
During the first year, 1967, only 20 L-88 cars were built. They are highly regarded by collectors. A convertible was sold for $ 3.5M by Mecum on September 7, 2013. A coupe was sold for $ 3.85M by Barrett-Jackson in January 2014.
On January 18, 2017, Worldwide Auctioneers sold a very rare 1967 RPO L-88 roadster, RPO meaning that it was originally equipped with several options that include in that specific case a silver pearl exterior finish unique for the roadsters of this series. This expertly restored car was sold for $ 1,98M, lot 32.
A 1967 sunfire yellow L-88 with 357 miles on the odometer was sold for $ 1.8M by Mecum on March 9, 2024, lot S143.
Ford GT40 MkI Road Car
1
1965
2016 SOLD for $ 4.4M before fees by Mecum
In 1965, while a new version Mk II is developed for competition, the original variant Mk I is converted for the road.
Ford hopes that the commercial success of this vehicle will be at the level of its performance and the arrival from UK in the USA of a first demonstration car in the road legal version is eagerly awaited. Its promotional tour is extensive with a culmination at Sebring where it makes the parade throughout the weekend of the event. Four pages are devoted to it in Playboy magazine in July 1966.
This specific car appeals the customer with an additional care provided to comfort, including air conditioning, layout of luggage and increased use of leather.
It traveled less than 18,000 km from new, significantly for its promotional activities. When it was to restore it the experts were astonished by its authentic condition. This restoration that just ended had lasted four years and the car was established in the most detailed configuration from its glorious exhibition at Sebring half a century earlier.
This historically important example of one of the most elegant road cars of the twentieth century was sold for $ 4.4M before fees by Mecum on August 20, 2016, lot S103.
Ford assembled 31 road going GT40 Mk I in support to the FIA GT homologation. With their additional trim, Borrani wire wheels and comfortable interiors including carpet, ruched fabric map pockets in the doors and a cigarette lighter, they are considered as the most beautiful variant.
Ford hopes that the commercial success of this vehicle will be at the level of its performance and the arrival from UK in the USA of a first demonstration car in the road legal version is eagerly awaited. Its promotional tour is extensive with a culmination at Sebring where it makes the parade throughout the weekend of the event. Four pages are devoted to it in Playboy magazine in July 1966.
This specific car appeals the customer with an additional care provided to comfort, including air conditioning, layout of luggage and increased use of leather.
It traveled less than 18,000 km from new, significantly for its promotional activities. When it was to restore it the experts were astonished by its authentic condition. This restoration that just ended had lasted four years and the car was established in the most detailed configuration from its glorious exhibition at Sebring half a century earlier.
This historically important example of one of the most elegant road cars of the twentieth century was sold for $ 4.4M before fees by Mecum on August 20, 2016, lot S103.
Ford assembled 31 road going GT40 Mk I in support to the FIA GT homologation. With their additional trim, Borrani wire wheels and comfortable interiors including carpet, ruched fabric map pockets in the doors and a cigarette lighter, they are considered as the most beautiful variant.
2
1967
2024 SOLD for $ 4.4M by Broad Arrow
Delivered in February 1967 to Michigan and titled 1967, one of the Ford GT40 road examples was displayed in March at the Geneva Motor Show on loan to Scuderia Filipinetti.
Kept in Switzerlznd for the rest of the year, it was nicknamed the Hostage car when vainly required by Ford for participation in their press promotion program. By early 1968 it was returned to JWA in UK. A photo in 1969 depicts the world champion Graham Hill entering it for a demonstration. It was restored in 1972 after a fire by contact between the fuel and hot brakes.
It was sold for $ 4.4M by Broad Arrow on March 2, 2024, lot 229. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Kept in Switzerlznd for the rest of the year, it was nicknamed the Hostage car when vainly required by Ford for participation in their press promotion program. By early 1968 it was returned to JWA in UK. A photo in 1969 depicts the world champion Graham Hill entering it for a demonstration. It was restored in 1972 after a fire by contact between the fuel and hot brakes.
It was sold for $ 4.4M by Broad Arrow on March 2, 2024, lot 229. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Shelby
1
1965 GT350R Flying Mustang
2022 SOLD for $ 4.1M by Mecum
In 1964 the venerable Ford Motor Company makes a dramatic entry into the modern world. The new model is the Ford Mustang, the "pony car" which offers to young American drivers the dual use of a street car and a small sports car.
Ambitions are growing. The 1964 Mustang was not designed for competition, but it can indeed be modified. Ford once again calls Carroll Shelby and his Shelby American company. Shelby had entered his partner on the circuits by installing a Ford engine on the AC Cobra chassis. In 1964 he had redesigned the Ford GT, future GT40, whose first prototypes were not operational.
Ford lets Shelby sign his first two models of special Mustangs, the GT350R (Racing) and S (Street).
The first R model prototype is the 5R002, followed by the works car 5R001 and by 34 customer R cars.
002 was revealed to the press in January 1965 at a Californian raceway. This car had its first competition at Green Valley TX in the following month. Driven by Ken Miles, it was photographed with its four wheels 30 cm above the track, before winning the race. This feat, forwarded in period by the medias, earned it the nickname of Flying Mustang, cleverly demonstrating the capability of the Shelby Mustangs on and off the track.
Back in the Shelby factory, the Flying Mustang made a highly effective career as a test mule for improving the GT350R model. It was sold for $ 3.85M on July 17, 2020 by Mecum, lot F140. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. Consigned by its new owner for sale by Mecum on January 15, 2022, it was sold for $ 4.1M, lot S160. Please watch the 2022 video.
Ambitions are growing. The 1964 Mustang was not designed for competition, but it can indeed be modified. Ford once again calls Carroll Shelby and his Shelby American company. Shelby had entered his partner on the circuits by installing a Ford engine on the AC Cobra chassis. In 1964 he had redesigned the Ford GT, future GT40, whose first prototypes were not operational.
Ford lets Shelby sign his first two models of special Mustangs, the GT350R (Racing) and S (Street).
The first R model prototype is the 5R002, followed by the works car 5R001 and by 34 customer R cars.
002 was revealed to the press in January 1965 at a Californian raceway. This car had its first competition at Green Valley TX in the following month. Driven by Ken Miles, it was photographed with its four wheels 30 cm above the track, before winning the race. This feat, forwarded in period by the medias, earned it the nickname of Flying Mustang, cleverly demonstrating the capability of the Shelby Mustangs on and off the track.
Back in the Shelby factory, the Flying Mustang made a highly effective career as a test mule for improving the GT350R model. It was sold for $ 3.85M on July 17, 2020 by Mecum, lot F140. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. Consigned by its new owner for sale by Mecum on January 15, 2022, it was sold for $ 4.1M, lot S160. Please watch the 2022 video.
2
1965-1967 Super Snake
2007 SOLD for $ 5.5M by Barrett-Jackson
One of the original Competition Cobras, finished in September 1965, had a one off fate. Carroll Shelby decided in 1967 to push it to the highest possible performance on the road. It was referred as the Super Snake and titled 1966.
The Super Snake retained its original engine and was fitted with a twin supercharger and a three speed automatic transmission while receiving the required pieces of equipment for road homologation.
This car which has retained its original engine block was sold by Barrett-Jackson for $ 5.5M on January 21, 2007, lot 1301, for $ 5.1M on January 17, 2015, lot 2509. and for $ 5.5M again on March 27, 2021, lot 1396. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The only other car upgraded to Super Snake specification had got the opposite transformation : it was built from a street car, on request from a showbiz celebrity. It was accidentally destroyed by falling off a cliff into the Pacific ocean.
The Super Snake retained its original engine and was fitted with a twin supercharger and a three speed automatic transmission while receiving the required pieces of equipment for road homologation.
This car which has retained its original engine block was sold by Barrett-Jackson for $ 5.5M on January 21, 2007, lot 1301, for $ 5.1M on January 17, 2015, lot 2509. and for $ 5.5M again on March 27, 2021, lot 1396. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The only other car upgraded to Super Snake specification had got the opposite transformation : it was built from a street car, on request from a showbiz celebrity. It was accidentally destroyed by falling off a cliff into the Pacific ocean.
3
1966 427
2021 SOLD for $ 5.9M by Mecum
AC Cobra is the brand for the cars assembled by Shelby American from 1962 to 1967 with Ford engines on British rolling chassis by AC Cars. Its rise in power led in 1965 to the 427 Cobra competition roadster with a 7 liter (427 cubic inches) engine on the new Mk III chassis. They are not street legal because the superfluous equipment such as windshield, fender and muffler have been removed.
The new model targeted the Group 3 GT class of the FIA for which the homologation required 100 competition cars. Only 51 were available for the FIA inspection and the 1965 homologation was not granted. Shelby American gives up and downgrades some unsold cars to 427 S/C (semi-competition), a road legal Shelby specification with a less efficient engine.
The road model of the 1965 Mk III 427 is using another Ford engine. The failure of the competition version is not commercially favorable to this roadster, despite an excellent performance in its category. The boss wants to buy one.
The 1965 427 Street Cobra CSX3178 is assembled from January to March 1966. It is delivered to home to Carroll Shelby who will use it regularly and will never part with it. It has retained its original body and chassis and has been repainted in its rare Charcoal Gray original color.
Carroll Shelby's personal Cobra was sold for $ 5.9M by Mecum on January 15, 2021, lot F145. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The new model targeted the Group 3 GT class of the FIA for which the homologation required 100 competition cars. Only 51 were available for the FIA inspection and the 1965 homologation was not granted. Shelby American gives up and downgrades some unsold cars to 427 S/C (semi-competition), a road legal Shelby specification with a less efficient engine.
The road model of the 1965 Mk III 427 is using another Ford engine. The failure of the competition version is not commercially favorable to this roadster, despite an excellent performance in its category. The boss wants to buy one.
The 1965 427 Street Cobra CSX3178 is assembled from January to March 1966. It is delivered to home to Carroll Shelby who will use it regularly and will never part with it. It has retained its original body and chassis and has been repainted in its rare Charcoal Gray original color.
Carroll Shelby's personal Cobra was sold for $ 5.9M by Mecum on January 15, 2021, lot F145. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
1968 Ford Mustang in Bullitt
2020 SOLD for $ 3.74M by Mecum
Steve McQueen is out of the range. Extremely individualistic, he begins his career at the right time, when moviegoers demand modern expressions of liberty. He is also passionate about motorsport. After the first successes, Bullitt is his personal masterpiece.
Prepared in 1968, Bullitt is co-produced by Solar Productions, which is owned by McQueen, and by Warner Bros. It is not a simple successor to the countless films opposing the police to a gang of murderers. It is above all the pretext for a car chase entirely conceived by McQueen.
Lt. Bullitt, played by McQueen, drives a green Ford Mustang against a team of two killers in a black Dodge Charger in the winding streets of San Francisco. The King of Cool is never talkative. For ten minutes, no words are spoken, highlighting the extreme conditions of this driving.
In this scene, the driving of the Mustang is ensured by McQueen, doubled by a stuntman in the most dangerous actions. The cameras are cleverly distributed, so that the spectator has the impression of experiencing the action behind the pilot's back, or of observing from the passenger seat his state of concentration and his handling of the steering wheel, and sometimes from the front through the windshield.
For this role, Ford loaned two Mustang GT Fastbacks with 390 CI V8 engines. One of them was used extensively during the three weeks of filming the sequence, after an adaptation of the engine, of the brakes and of the suspension to the extreme conditions of the chase.
This car was bought on a classified ad in 1974 by a connoisseur who refused to hand it over to Steve McQueen. An insistent and emotional letter mailed in 1977 by the actor was kept.
This supposedly lost car resurfaced in the same family in 2018, with 65,000 miles on the clock. It still has the camera mounts welded behind the seats and the Bondo used to reinforce the door after the scheduled final accident of the scenario. It was sold for $ 3.74M by Mecum on January 10, 2020, lot F150. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Prepared in 1968, Bullitt is co-produced by Solar Productions, which is owned by McQueen, and by Warner Bros. It is not a simple successor to the countless films opposing the police to a gang of murderers. It is above all the pretext for a car chase entirely conceived by McQueen.
Lt. Bullitt, played by McQueen, drives a green Ford Mustang against a team of two killers in a black Dodge Charger in the winding streets of San Francisco. The King of Cool is never talkative. For ten minutes, no words are spoken, highlighting the extreme conditions of this driving.
In this scene, the driving of the Mustang is ensured by McQueen, doubled by a stuntman in the most dangerous actions. The cameras are cleverly distributed, so that the spectator has the impression of experiencing the action behind the pilot's back, or of observing from the passenger seat his state of concentration and his handling of the steering wheel, and sometimes from the front through the windshield.
For this role, Ford loaned two Mustang GT Fastbacks with 390 CI V8 engines. One of them was used extensively during the three weeks of filming the sequence, after an adaptation of the engine, of the brakes and of the suspension to the extreme conditions of the chase.
This car was bought on a classified ad in 1974 by a connoisseur who refused to hand it over to Steve McQueen. An insistent and emotional letter mailed in 1977 by the actor was kept.
This supposedly lost car resurfaced in the same family in 2018, with 65,000 miles on the clock. It still has the camera mounts welded behind the seats and the Bondo used to reinforce the door after the scheduled final accident of the scenario. It was sold for $ 3.74M by Mecum on January 10, 2020, lot F150. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
1971 Plymouth Hemi Cuda
2014 SOLD for $ 3.8M by Mecum
The Muscle car was a US automobile style to appeal to baby boomers eager for high-performance cars. Since 1964, the competition is fierce between Ford, Chrysler and General Motors.
Sales drop sharply in 1971 : the overpowered engines are no longer welcomed after the 1970 Clean Air Act, without forgetting the rise of gas prices and of insurance rates.
Chrysler develops two parallel product lines in 1970 on their new E-Body chassis and the huge Hemi engine, the Hemi Cuda in the Plymouth division and the Challenger in the Dodge division. The convertible version of the Hemi Cuda is the ultimate high-end muscle car, extremely rare: 14 cars produced in 1970 and 11 cars in 1971.
An exceptional 1971 Hemi Cuda Convertible 4 Speed retaining its original engine was sold for $ 3.8M by Mecum on June 14, 2014.
A Hemi Cuda Convertible made in 1970 with an automatic transmission was sold for $ 2.25M before fees for sale by Mecum on August 14, 2015, lot F69. It had been presented new including a large number of the available options to its bodywork stylist, John Herlitz.
Sales drop sharply in 1971 : the overpowered engines are no longer welcomed after the 1970 Clean Air Act, without forgetting the rise of gas prices and of insurance rates.
Chrysler develops two parallel product lines in 1970 on their new E-Body chassis and the huge Hemi engine, the Hemi Cuda in the Plymouth division and the Challenger in the Dodge division. The convertible version of the Hemi Cuda is the ultimate high-end muscle car, extremely rare: 14 cars produced in 1970 and 11 cars in 1971.
An exceptional 1971 Hemi Cuda Convertible 4 Speed retaining its original engine was sold for $ 3.8M by Mecum on June 14, 2014.
A Hemi Cuda Convertible made in 1970 with an automatic transmission was sold for $ 2.25M before fees for sale by Mecum on August 14, 2015, lot F69. It had been presented new including a large number of the available options to its bodywork stylist, John Herlitz.
