Famous Cars Bought and Sold at Auction

Celebrity cars and film star's cars have always attracted a lot of attention whether it is on the road or in the media. When these kinds of cars eventually come up for sale depending on the owner, the price tag can be hugely inflated next to a car owned by regular member of the general public. It's no surprise that recently the classic 1970 Porsche 911 S, which was formerly owned by the movie star actor Steve McQueen and the very same Porsche 911 that was featured in his 70's film "Le Mans" was sold for staggering $1,375,000 (£832,800) at an auction house in California. This is now a new world record for a Porsche sold at auction. Although many of Steve McQueen's private vehicles were either sold off after his death, although many were handed down to his son. In contrast to the recent Porsche 911 sale, in 2007 another vehicle previously owned by Steve McQueen was his 1963 metallic-brown Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta Lusso which was sold for an amazing $2.31 million at auction. Another petrol head (& Ferrari fan) celebrity is the UK broadcaster and DJ Chris Evans who owns seven classic Ferrari's, (nicknamed the magnificent seven") the most recent is a very rare 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO purchased at auction in 2010 at a huge price tag of £12m. What makes this car extra special as it just one of only 36 ever made. Another unique Ferrari he owns is the "250 GT SWB California Spyder" once owned by Hollywood actor James Coburn, this car was purchased for £5m in 2008. A vintage car a 1932 Packard which was originally owned by the singer Al Jolson was sold at auction this year for an amazing $7.6 million in the USA. In contrast to car's owned by famous people, sometimes the car's themselves are the stars, like many cars that have been featured in TV and films often are sold for amazing prices. On a less exotic note, the Reliant Regal 3-wheeler car used in the classic British TV comedy "Only Fools and Horses" was sold for more than £40,000 (more than double the estimate) at auction in 2007, while the 1960s Batmobile car was sold for almost £120,000 in the same year. Lastly, for slightly more heavenly motoring in 2005 a Volkswagen Golf previously owned by a Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who later became "Pope Benedict XVI", was sold by its then current owner in the same year of purchase on a popular online auction website for an amazing $244,000 (£127,000). So it just goes to show, it doesn't have to be a rare or exotic car to fetch a high price, it could just have a famous previous owner or unique celebrity background history which gives the car good provenance.