There are so many cars out there that it is sometimes hard to keep up. It's just true. I mean, I bet there are at least 100 sports cars out there that people reading this article have never heard of before and probably never will before they check out. There are so many being built all around the world that it is pointless to try and know them all.
That being said, there are just some classic cars that people should never forget. But in some cases, there are classics people should definitely forget. 20 of the cars in this car-ticle should pretty well be forgotten because there is no way anyone reading this would be able to afford one of them. If there is a multi-millionaire reading this right now, please buy one of these cars and then e-mail me a photo to brag about it and prove me wrong.
On the flip side, however, there are five cars on this list that are definitely considered classics and they are all pretty cheap considering their condition, their overall looks, and the names attached to them. So let's see what we can afford and what even the millionaires can't afford!
25 Datsun Z ~ $5,000
According to Jalopnik, all it takes is a brief little search on eBay to find a whole load of these Datsun Z-Cars for sale out there in the wide world. And hey, look at this thing. It sure ain't no slouch. I wouldn't mind riding around in this thing...apart from having to try and find someone who can maintain a Datsun these days. Of all the Z-Series cars listed on eBay, over half of them cost under $5,000. And I'm willing to bet that the rest aren't much more expensive.
24 Chevrolet Nova SS ~ $5,000
Alright, to be fair here, this is not actually the specific car that was for sale (the photos in the listing I saw just weren't high quality enough) but the point still stands that for only $4,900, someone could drive away with their very own Chevy Nova SS. I wouldn't mind that at all. And for the price, even if someone ends up putting an additional $5,000 into the car, it's still a pretty sweet deal and it would end up being a restored piece of auto history. So...thanks, Craigslist.
23 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia ~ $15,000
Alright, so in terms of the cheaper end of the classic car world, this one might actually be one of the more expensive. Depending on the year, a Karmann Ghia can go for anywhere from $12,000 to $20,000. And sure, it might be a pretty slow-going machine, but it still looks great. When this thing started out, it only had the power of 30 horses motivating it. Even the smallest army from the dark ages had more power than that. But later, this Beetle-based car eventually got up to 60 horsepower!
22 Plymouth Fury ~ $2,500
Again, this car is by no means the actual one that was for sale. And everyone will know why, especially when I say that the going price online for one of these was about $2,500! That is basically a bunch of pennies, at least in car terms. And if someone were to spend another $5,000 on top of that bringing the car back to life, I bet it would be a pretty sweet ride once again. The Fury is a great car and iconic, for sure! Especially in Christine red (and if it is from the 50s).
21 Ford Fairlane ~ $10,000
Alright, I have to agree with AutoWise here and say that the Chevrolet Bel Air is probably a better classic car than the Ford Fairlane, but given that the Bel Air is probably about double the price, the Fairlane is no a slouch when it comes to a pretty classic car. And for somewhere in the ballpark of about $10,000, I don't think anyone can complain about something this good-looking that still runs! Especially since it comes from as far back as 1958!
20 McLaren F1 LM - $13,750,000
That is right. For over $13 million, someone could have a McLaren from the late 1990s. That sounds a little ridiculous and though it's perhaps not "technically" a classic car, trust me, when I bought my first truck, it was considered a classic because it was more than 20 years old. That makes this thing just under the wire for classic status. And it also boasts the claim of the some serious Le Mans underdog history! If that doesn't just give it a legendary and classic status right away, I don't know what does.
19 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 S Nart Spider - $27,700,000
Over $27 million! For this little thing! I swear that this car really only has this incredible price tag simply because of the person who ended up owning it for his whole life before his family donated it to charity (and I bet the charity was super happy). Luigi Chinetti knew Enzo Ferrari personally—and was a Le Mans winner himself—so it was a no-brainer when he talked Enzo into making a series of ten of these cars. I can't imagine knowing the founder of Ferrari and having him build me a car that I'd specifically asked for.
18 Ferrari 275 GTB/C Speciale - $26,400,000
This is only one of three cars of its kind, so I guess it's not a big surprise as to why it fetches such a ridiculous price. That being said, even if it's hand-built and there are only two others...this is just silly. This V12-powered car could gallop with the power of 320 horses, though, and back in 1964, that was no number to be disappointed with, for sure. That being said though...it still costs over $26 million! Not even Nicolas Cage could get this car.
17 Ferrari 250 LM - $17,600,000
I know that only 34 of these things were ever built, but does that really warrant over $17 million? Even if it won the 24 Hours of Le Mans? I guess it might have something to do with the fact that this Le Mans winner never banged up its body at all and still has all its original parts. That could be part of the whole deal. All of these components make this car the most expensive Le Mans Ferrari out there.
16 Shelby 260 Cobra - $13,750,000
Ok, I know this is almost $14 million worth of car here—and it is also a pretty tiny car, at that—but I have to say that I think this one is actually worth the money. Why? Well, this was the very first Shelby Cobra. For those who don't know who Carroll Shelby is...he basically made some of the greatest Mustang cars for Ford to have ever existed. This was his personal car that was sold to charity after he passed, but it still remains on display in Shelby's name.
15 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta Speciale by Bertone - $16,500,000
This is actually a very interesting story. I don't know if the story is worth $16.5 million, but here it is all the same. Bertone was a coachbuilder who based this machine off the classic "shark nose" Ferrari look but, in spite of how well this performed in Geneva when it was unveiled in the 60s, Ferrari never took Bertone on and stuck with Pininfarina instead. Their loss, clearly, because this is a big-money car (though there are still Pininfarinas out there making bank).
14 Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato - $14,300,000
When this car was dropped, it ran with the power of 314 horses (in 1962). It could clock a whopping 153.3 miles per hour, which made this little guy the fastest production car of its time. (Which is not something that Aston Martin has been able to say for quite some time now thanks to Hennessey, Bugatti, and McLaren.) This car beat its own predecessor by only 1.3mph to keep the title for Aston Martin at the time. I have to say that I would not mind that in my garage..but not for that price. I could just go get a few Venoms and Veyrons for that money.
13 Ferrari 250 GTO Berlinetta - $38,115,000
Alright, here's the thing. This is actually the most expensive car to have ever hit the auction block. Ever! And the price that is up there in the heading is not even fully accurate. That's how much a specific publicly auctioned piece went for but privately, a 1963 model sold for $52 million! That is just absurd. Who are these people who have all this money and why is this car the priciest of them all? I mean it's good-looking, sure, but come on!
12 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider - $17,160,000
This car right here happens to just be the most expensive movie car to have ever sold at auction. And of the 37 of these cars that lived throughout time with the covered headlights, not a single one had previously gone to auction, which I'm sort of astonished by. I might rather the $17 million over the car. This particular car appears in the Oscar-winning film 'Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow" which sounds like a pretty riveting film...But hey, it did star Sophia Loren.
11 Ferrari 250 GT California Spider - 18,465,733
The story behind this car is actually absurd and I really wish that I was the one who happened to be strolling about western France on this particular day. Matthieu Lamoure and Pierre Novikoff just happened upon this car sitting in a barn! It had been sitting in a barn with books and papers all over it, nestled near a bunch of other classic cars. The days, I wish I was a bit luckier in life. They just found this epic car being used as a magazine rack in a random barn!
10 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Competizione - $13,500,000
Alright, I mean, don't get me wrong here. This is a pretty car. But I wouldn't want it. If I can't fit myself, another person, and a guitar in my car, it's simply not worth having. At any rate, someone else clearly thought this was worth over $13 million. It might be because it is one of the first of its kind ever built. Also, it has a pretty historical lineup of drivers including, but not limited to, Hugus and Pabst (at Le Mans), Phil Hill, Wolfgang von Trips, and Richie Ginther.
9 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spider Competizione - $18,150,000
This car is one of only nine of its kind made. What is so special about it? It is the alloy body that does the trick. There are other LWB Cali Spiders out there, but not with this body construction, not to mention the covered lights and disc brakes. It's got a bit of a racing record but nothing amazing. It placed 5th in the 12 Hours of Sebring and it even got a Platinum Award at the Competizione Cup in 2011, so it's still been active as a dinosaur.
8 Ferrari 335S Spider - $35,712,945
The 1957 Ferrari 335 S Spider Scaglietti—that is quite the name to have on a car. This car has a bit of racing history having been piloted by drivers like Wolfgang von Trips, Maurice Trintignant, Peter Collins, and even Mike Hawthorn. So, it does at least have an awesome pedigree, but I am not so sure about the whole borderline $36 million thing. But someone bought it, so I guess I'm wrong, because they felt that the car was worth that kind of money, and it was their money, after all.
7 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa - $16,390,000
This car used to hold the record for most money taken in at auction...but considering that the number has more than doubled since then, I think this car is actually pretty cheap compared to the number one spot now. This is the original Testa Rossa. This one car spawned a whole world of awesome cars and car fans for generations. Only 34 of the original were built, but the next generation of these cars won Le Mans in 1958, 60, and 61. Which is not bad at all.
6 Ferrari 290 MM - $28,050,000
Who is surprised to see yet another Ferrari on this lineup of the most expensive classic cars? There is something about Ferrari that just takes the cake...like they have their cake and eat it, too, but still have lots of cake left over for later. This V12-powered machine runs with the power of 320 horses. Not bad for 1956! This car has a huge history of great racing legends who drove it, though it probably didn't win as many titles as Ferrari hoped. It still made it big, though, and fetched big bucks.