Updated: 30th September 2023
Whether you're at the top or bottom end of the collector car market, there are always fascinating cars coming to the market. It's also fascinating how much dominance certain organisations have when it comes to the top end of the market.
Of the top 10 most expensive cars to sell publicly this year, Ferrari dominate 8 out of the top 10 slots.
When it comes to who is auctioning these cars, RM Sotheby's dominate with 6 out of the top 10 lots being sold by them, but not the top two most expensive cars to sell this year.
So without further ado, here are the top 10 most expensive cars to sell publicly in 2023:
10 - 1955 Ferrari 121 LM Spider by Scaglietti
Only four 121 LM's survive, of which this is one. And it's one of the Ferrari Works car from the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans and 1955 Mille Miglia, although unfortunately it DNF'd at both events.
When the car did finish the race, it performed exceedingly well, of its 5 races in period (as a privateer car) it was never outside the top two. It finished 1st on three occasions and 2nd on the remaining two.
RM Sotheby's sold it at their Le Mans sale in June for €5,742,500 (£5,077,117). Interestingly, this same chassis sold in 2017 by RM for $5,720,000 (£4,441,891).
9 - 1959 Ferrari 410 Superamerica Coupe Series III
This 410 Superamerica had an awards list as long at its arm with wins at the 2021 Cavallino Classic, class-win at the 2020 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, and best of show-winner at the 2023 Cavallino Modena and the 2023 Concours d’Elegance Suisse. It was the fourth of 12 Series III examples built and sold towards the top end of its $5,750,000 - $6,750,000 estimate at $6,605,000 (£5,299,251).
8 - 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta
This is the 62nd of 165 total examples built and one of the final examples clothed in the 1960 body style. It's Classiche certified and briefly appeared in the classic Disney film 'The Love Bug'. It's also registered in Sweden - a pretty rare thing for a car like this.
7 - 1962 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta
165 SWB's were built between 1960 and 1963 and this car, chassis 3507 GT, has never been offered for public sale before. In the first 18 months of ownership the initial owner put a superb 15,000 km on the car. That didn't damage its value too much when it sold with Gooding & Co for $9,465,000 (£7,593,855).
6 - 2022 Bugatti Chiron Profilee
A 'regular' Bugatti Chiron will set you back about £2.5m nowadays. This is no standard Chiron, and that's why it sold for €9,792,500 (£8,657,843).
The is the first and only Chiron Profilee ever produced.
It was born out of Bugatti's customer feedback for a car that was slightly "less radical" than the Chiron Pur Sport. The design of the car is noticeably different to other Chiron's, particularly so at the rear.
It's also the second most expensive Bugatti to ever sell at auction.
5 - 1957 Jaguar XKSS
This XKSS was only the second XKSS to come to auction in recent history. The previous car failed to sell but reached a high bid of $11,900,000 in 2017. RM Sotheby's placed an estimate on the car of $12,000,000 - $14,000,000 and the car placed slap bang in the middle, selling (including premium) for $13,205,000 (£10,594,491). The result makes it the second most expensive Jaguar to sell in history.
4 - 1972 Ferrari 312 PB
The last time a 312 PB came to market was 2005, at the time the car sold for £918,929. RM Sotheby's sold this 312 PB for £10,647,136 (€12,042,500) at their Villa Erba sale. That's a 1,058% price increase.
The 312 PB that sold here was the winner of the 1972 Buenos Aires 1,000 Kilometres and the 1972 Nürburgring 1,000 Kilometres. It finished second at the 1972 12 Hours of Sebring, and 3rd-place finish at the 1972 Monza 1,000 Kilometres. Indeed, it was the last Ferrari Works sports prototype to compete and win the World Sportscar Championship. Quite the roll call.
3 - 1964 Ferrari 250 LM
Chassis 5901 was the 10th LM produced out of the 32 car production run. And it is 1 of only 2 to not have experienced the wounds of war on the racetrack.
Artcurial tried to sell the car in February when it reached £17.8m before being announced as not sold. That was £6.5m (before commission is added) over the previous world record price.
2 - 1962 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider
This SWB Cali Spider is in the more desirable covered headlight form, of which only 37 were produced. It is Classiche certified and was built for the 1962 New York International Auto Show. This is the sole example delivered new in Azzurro Metallizzato.
1 - 1967 Ferrari 412P Berlinetta
The headline lot of the year (so far) may have missed its estimate by c. $10,000,000 but despite that it tops the billing after a single bid secured this 412P and brought it to its French owner for the princely sum of $30,255,000 (£24,273,861) - making it the most expensive car sold in 2023. It's also comes in at number 5 on the all-time most expensive cars publicly sold.
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Notes: the order presented is based on currency conversion to GBP on the day of sale.