1961 Ferrari 250 GT California Sells For $10,976,000 Setting World Record As Most Expensive Car Ever (2008)

How much would you pay for the car of your dreams? Well, the official record for the highest price anyone ever paid for any car anywhere was just recently set when a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT short-wheelbase California got hammered down at auction for €7,040,000. Converted to 'merican dollars, that's about $10,976,000. That is a lot of money, there's no need for us to add any fancy exaggerative adjectives here.

We honestly don't know how to feel. Sure, there's been multiple millions spent on the likes of everything from Bugattis to Cobras before. Just last year there was even some guy that paid $9,300,000 for a Ferrari 330 TRI/LM. But this little California clearly takes to a new level. Sure, we'd probably drop some coin on the car of our dreams if we actually had the means to, but $11-million? Really? We're guessing there's probably been more paid for a vehicle in some shadowy private sale, or that a some robber baron back in the day bought some gold-plated motor carriage for a higher inflation-adjusted price, but this sale is still quite remarkable given today's economy. The other thing that gets us is the winning bidder was some British radio DJ, Chris Evans. There's just something about morning radio guys that makes us— well, we've never heard his jockeying firsthand, so we'll reserve judgment lest we be judged. We'll also dismiss any conspiracy theories that this was all just a massive publicity stunt by Ferrari to stir up public interest for their new California, though it does make you wonder. Oh well, maybe we're just jealous that we don't have multiple millions with which to realize our own fantasies of owning one of James Coburn's cars.