While founding your own supercar company is not for the faint of heart, founding one at 22 years of age with the expressed intent of competing with the likes of McLaren and Ferrari for the title of “World’s Greatest” would generally be considered laughable, if not ludicrous.

How could someone so young compete with the monumental strides those marques have made in automotive performance and technology over the last half-century? In the case of Christian von Koenigsegg, not only did he attempt such a feat—he succeeded brilliantly.

Founded in 1994, Koenigsegg’s aspiration was to build nothing short of the greatest supercar in history.

Over the next three years, with help from a small but highly skilled group, a prototype was constructed using a radical carbon fiber tub and a litany of automotive engineering firsts.

This car, named the Koenigsegg CC (Competition Coupe), was first publicly displayed at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997, and the reaction from public and press alike was ov...