Cars have captured imaginations in a way that no other inventions have. But apart from the experience of owning and driving a car is the thrill of admiring a work of art that a car can be or the work of the artists who designed the car and maybe even drove it. This is what fuels the desire of car collectors around the world and there's a special craze when it comes to rare cars whether it's because there were so few of them built or something especially unique or beautiful about them or maybe just because of their price tags. This is the list of the top ten rarest cars in the world.
ICONA VULCANO TITANIUM
There's only 1 of these cars in existence and priced at just 3.8 million dollars. It's the cheapest car on this list but the Icona Vulcano titanium also perhaps is the most unique car on this list with a body built entirely of titanium and carbon-fiber developed first as a concept car by some of the most experienced Italian designers in the world. It's taken over 10,000 hours of painstaking effort to handcraft the car looking for the perfect balance between power and beauty. It is with its 6-liter supercharged V8 engine capable of reaching a speed of 60 miles per hour in less than 3 seconds and 120 miles per hour in less than 9 seconds with a top speed over 220 miles per hour. That's not as fast as the legendary SR-71 blackbird that is reportedly the inspiration behind the car but it certainly puts it right out there amongst the best supercars in the world and the buyer can be certain that there's no other volcano going to park in the spot alongside.
MAYBACH EXELERO
This creation of German super luxury carmaker Maybach has a price tag of just under 8 million dollars. There's only one car like this that's ever been made though you could get a custom-built if you like. It was built when German tire maker Fulda approached Mercedes Benz for a very heavy very fast car for them to test their newest range of high-performance tires called the karate axial arrow and Mercedes gave the brief to its subsidiary, Maybach who designed this monster of a machine a two-door two-seater coupe that was 19 feet long and 7 feet wide weighing over 2.6 tons and powered by a unique 5.9-liter twin-turbocharged V12 engine. The aerodynamics coupled with the massive 23-inch wheels allow this car to go from zero to 60 miles per hour in 4.4 seconds and reach a maximum speed of 218 miles per hour by far the record for a luxury limo on street tires. Now that's a job well done by Maybach but they did have difficulty in finding a buyer for the car.
PORSHE 917K
This legendary car which even starred in Steve McQueen's racing movie LeMans was sold in an auction for just over 14 million dollars making it the most expensive Porsche ever. The 917 K was designed and developed as a sports prototype solely for racing. It could go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 2.3 seconds from 0 to 120 miles per hour in a mere 5.3 seconds and was capable of reaching speeds over 240 miles per hour and it was built to be an endurance racer, winning the grueling 24 Hours of LeMans in both 1970 and 1971. The record set in 1971 for the distance covered during the 24 hours was only broken in 2010 almost 40 years later. Just 12 of these cars were ever made and together with its racing heritage, this is one of the most coveted collector's cars in the world.
ASTON MARTIN DB4 GT ZABATO
This collaborative effort between premium British sports car maker Aston Martin and Zagato, one of Italy's best-known coach builders resulted in a car that was sold in a 2015 auction for 14.3 million dollars. Aston Martin had great racing success in the early 1960s with the DB4 and approached the Italian coachmaker to lighten and improve the car. The result was beautifully described as an English soul in an Italian suit and only 19 of these cars were ever produced. Most went on to see great racing success and are still highly prized by their owners. The car was seen as such a great work of art that a thriving unauthorized private market has developed to meet the demand for Aston Martin DB4 Zagato gallery recreations.
BUGATTI TYPE 41 ROYALE
Weighing over three tonnes and over 21 feet long, this is one of the largest automobiles ever built designed by Ettore Bugatti in 1927 to only be sold to royalty. But the great depression intervened in his grand plans and so only six of these cars could ever be made. The asking price in 1932 was a whopping $30,000. In 1987, one was sold on auction for over eight million dollars and in 1999, one was reportedly bought by Volkswagen AG, the company which bought the Bugatti brand for between 15 and 20 million dollars and is used in exhibitions. The car is remarkable not just for its luxury superb suspension and handling but also for its immense 12.7-liter engine that was first intended for an aircraft. These cars are among the top attractions and vintage car museums that are lucky enough to possess a model.
HELICA DE LEYAT
Built-in 1921 and called the plane without wings, it is estimated that an original model of one of these cars in decent shape would sell for more than 20 million dollars. It was conceptualized by Marcel laya, an aviation engineer who believed that the future of automobiles was propeller-driven, that a simple light car without complicated transmission would be more economical in the long run. So he designed the Helica, more like an aircraft where passengers sat behind the driver. The steering operated the rear wheels and the 8 BHP engine powered a propeller instead of the wheels. The car weighed only 250 kilograms since the entire body was made of plywood and this made it dangerously fast. It could go at speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour. The car wasn't a commercial success however and only 25 or 30 such vehicles were ever made.
ASTON MARTIN DBR1
The Aston Martin DBR1 is a thoroughbred racer and at 22.5 million dollars is the most expensive British car ever sold in an auction. Only five such cars were ever built between 1956 and 1959 and these were produced solely for the racetrack to be driven by legends like Stirling Moss, Jack Brabham, and Carroll Shelby. It became one of only three cars in the 1950s to win both the World SportsCar Championship and the 24 Hours of LeMans in the same year and the six World SportsCar Championship victories was a record for any car in the 1950s. It has been described as the most important car to have ever been made by Aston Martin eclipsing even those driven by James Bond.
1904 ROLL-ROYCE 15HP
A priceless gem of a car so old that it's not even considered vintage but a veteran. Its value is estimated at over thirty-five million dollars. This car was designed in 1904 as a collaboration between Charles Rolls and Henry Royce before the Rolls-Royce company was ever formed. The car had a 3-liter engine developing 15 horsepower and reached a top speed of just under 40 miles per hour and it was sold this just a chassis. The customer had to go to a coachbuilder to get the body of the car built. Only one of these cars is in the existence of the six ever built and it's currently on display in a museum in Scotland. The family which used to own it has donated on the condition that it should never leave Scotland and that it should always be on display there. So there's little chance that we'll ever get to find out what it's actually worth.
FERRARI 250 TESTA ROSSA
One of the most iconic race cars ever created. There are only 34 Ferrari 250 Testarossa that was ever built and an unrestored running condition model from 1957 was auctioned for over 39 million dollars. In 2011 another one of these beauties from 1957 set the world record for a car being auction by fetching 16.4 million dollars. The previous record of 12.1 million dollars was also held by Ferrari 250 testa Rossa. These Ferrari's dominated the racing field winning 10 world sportscar championship races including the 24 Hours of LeMans three times. But 34 cars were built in a five-year period spanning 1956 to 1961 and the phrase testa Rossa meaning redhead refers to the red-painted valve covers in the cylinder heads of the V12 engines. But this is still considered just the second most valuable Ferrari of all time.
FERRARI 250 GTO
The rarest is at the top of our list, the Ferrari 250 GTO recently became the most expensive car to ever be auctioned fetching a mind-boggling 70 million dollars. To put things in perspective that's the price of a brand new top-end private jet and this is not the first time it set a world record and on auction, in 2013 a 250 GTO sold for 52 million dollars. What makes this car so valuable? you wonder. Well for starters it's one of the most beautiful cars ever designed. A road-legal race car that has been driven by the best drivers in the world and won some of the most prestigious races in the world ranging from the 24 hours of LeMans race to the Tour de France and other mountain and cross country events and of course FIA's World SportsCar Championship. Ferrari only made 36 of these magnificent cars between 1962 and 1964 and the current owner's list reads like a who's who of classic car collectors including Ralph Lauren, Pink Floyd, drummer Nick Mason, Canadian billionaire Lawrence troll, and Walmart heir Rob Walton.
That's our list of the rarest cars in the world. Do you agree or disagree are there any other cars you think should be on my list, let us know in the comments section. I love hearing from you.
