From the classifieds: Top 10 most expensive cars on carsales
What’s on offer at the pointy end of the used car marketFilter the more than 230,000 cars available on carsales by price, and you’ll find the sands are shifting at the top end of town.
In recent times this list has been dominated by modern exotics with the odd classic interloper – and both of these are certainly still present – but it’s now been infiltrated by a few modern classics.
This illustrates the changing nature of the collector's car market as a generational shift takes place, with the newly wealthy chasing after the poster cars of their formative years.
10. 2019 Lamborghini Aventador SVJ – $1.4m
The apotheosis of the Lamborghini Aventador, the SVJ set the production lap record around the Nurburgring in 2018 with an incredible time of 6 minute 44.97 second, knocking off the Porsche 911 GT2 RS.
Only 900 examples of the coupe were built, the screaming 6.5-litre naturally aspirated V12 producing 566kW/720Nm, enough for a 0-100km/h sprint of 2.8sec and a top speed of 350km/h.
This is the fastest and most extreme series production car from Lamborghini’s pre-hybrid era.
9. 2017 Lamborghini Aventador SV Roadster – $1.5m
Continuing the extreme Lamborghini theme is the SVJ’s predecessor, the SV. There are a number of reasons why this older car commands a higher price tag, chief among which is rarity, the SV Roadster limited to 500 examples worldwide.
This is not a car for the meek, the original owner speccing the eye-catching Verde Ithaca paint work with every possible gloss carbon fibre option inside and out. But if they don’t see you, they’ll most certainly hear you, thanks to the factory race-spec original exhaust.
Pleasingly, it’s also been well used by supercar standards, showing a healthy 21,337km on the odometer.
8. 1964 Aston Martin DB5 – $1.5m
The opposite is true of this beautiful Aston Martin DB5, which has travelled just 440km in more than six decades.
Leaving the factory in late-1964 in California Sage (light green), this DB5 passed through a number of UK owners before being imported into Australia in 2000 painted blue.
A thorough restoration was completed between 2005-2012, including repainting the car with the classic DB5 silver, and it has been a regular at various concours in the years since.
It’s a matching-numbers car and surely one of the lowest mileage examples in the world.
7. 2002 Holden Commodore S – $1.5m
A mainstay in our top 10 list is this manual Hyper Yellow Holden VX Series II Commodore S, its claim to fame being the daily driver of a certain Peter Brock. Bought to enjoy with his then-P plater son, Robert.
And enjoy it, they did. Racking up 205,000km, but as you might expect for a car owned by a motor racing legend, it remains in excellent condition inside, outside and mechanically.
As you would hope, given the asking price is 150 times that of the next-priciest VX Commodore S (which is also Hyper Yellow, coincidentally).
6. 2013 Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead – $1.5m
If Brocky’s daily driver isn’t your thing, perhaps the ultimate land yacht is more your style? The pinnacle of Rolls-Royce’s range and the most expensive car in Australia when new, the Phantom Drophead is a two-door convertible version of the iconic Phantom.
Designed to be a luxury boat on wheels, with a polished stainless-steel bonnet, teak rear decking and the whisper-quiet 6.75-litre V12.
According to the ad only one Series II example made it to Australia, though noteworthy owners of the Series I included John Laws, Lindsay Fox and Solomon Lew.
5. 1970 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 – $1.5m
A stunning example of one of Ferrari’s most beautiful and desirable cars, this Ferrari 365 GTB/4 – more frequently referred to as the Daytona – is claimed to be one of just 35 Series 1 ‘Plexiglass’ cars built in right-hand drive.
Furthermore, the silver-over-burgundy 1970s grand tourer is Ferrari Classiche-certified, meaning its condition and provenance have received the tick of approval from the factory.
With 259kW/431Nm from its 4.4-litre V12, the Daytona could hit 280km/h, making it one of the fastest cars in the world in its heyday.
4. 1963 Aston Martin DB5 – $1.695m
Having previously topped this list, this Aston Martin DB5 has the distinction of being an Australian-delivered car, delivered in Sydney on November 15, 1963.
Since then, it has returned to the UK in the mid-1990s to be comprehensively restored and sympathetically updated, with a larger 4.2-litre engine and better electrics, but it remains in its original colour scheme of Goodwood Green with White Gold interior.
The current owner is Australian, but the car remains in the UK, where it is regularly exercised on European driving tours but kept in climate-controlled storage otherwise.
It’s a rare example of a 60-year-old car with a fully documented history.
3. 2001 Ferrari 550 Barchetta – $1.9m
Just 48 of the 448 Ferrari 550 Barchettas produced were right-hand drive, and this might just be the world’s best, being a one-owner car with all matching documentation and accessories and showing less than 10,000km.
It received Ferrari Classiche certification in 2022 and has won the Ferrari Club National Concorso every year it has been entered.
The 550 was the return of a Ferrari front-engined V12 and the Barchetta was the pinnacle of the range.
2. 2004 Lamborghini Murcielago – $2.5m
Any Lamborghini Murcielago is a special machine, but this one ticks a lot of boxes. Not only is it a manual (of which less than 1000 first-gen cars were made in total), it’s one of 50 40th Anniversary editions, with Verde Artemis paintwork, carbon fibre accents and a unique asymmetrical interior.
Only five were built in right-hand drive and this is claimed to be the only one in Australia, purchased new by the current owner.
Even today its 426kW/650Nm 6.2-litre V12 makes it one of the most powerful vehicles on the road along with traffic-stopping looks and an incredible soundtrack.
1. 1958 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster – $2.7m
The Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing was one of the most advanced, exotic and high-performing vehicles of its era.
Derived from the W194 racing car, it featured a dry-sumped, fuel-injected straight-six engine producing 158kW/275Nm and allowing a top speed of more than 250km/h.
The Roadster you see here came later, and while it lacks the eye-catching Gullwing doors, it refined the concept by being easier to get in and out of, more powerful and easier to drive thanks to improved rear suspension.
It was very expensive in period, its $US10,950 price tag about the same as the average American house, though this equates to just $US123,000 in today’s money.
This car was delivered new to the US in 1959 and was most recently sold at auction in 2017.
It comes with both the soft and hard top, the original wheels and boot suitcase. An incredible example of the peak of 1950s motoring.
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