Category Archives: Auctions

Auctions

Gordon Murray S1 LM V12: A $20 Million Love Letter to Speed and Survival

One of only five examples of the Gordon Murray Automotive S1 LM V12, a road-legal love letter to the golden age of endurance racing, is heading to auction — and the price tag could easily top $20 million.

RM Sotheby’s will handle the sale later this month, and in a fitting twist, proceeds will go to charity. But this is no ordinary millionaire’s toy. As Shelby Myers, global head of private sales at RM Sotheby’s, puts it:

“S1 LM Chassis #1 offers a unique opportunity to collaborate with the original creator and help write the next chapter in automotive history.”

That creator, of course, is Gordon Murray, the legendary mind behind the McLaren F1, Brabham BT46B, and Mercedes SLR McLaren. The S1 LM is his latest opus — and perhaps his most personal.

A Modern Echo of Le Mans Glory

The S1 LM was conceived as a modern homage to the Le Mans–winning McLaren F1 GTR, blending the purity of old-school engineering with cutting-edge precision. The car retains the F1’s three-seat layout, with the driver perfectly centered, and a six-speed manual gearbox — a deliberate nod to the analog era that built Murray’s reputation.

But it’s the engine that steals the show. The Cosworth-built 4.0-liter V12 has been reimagined, stretched to 4.3 liters, and fine-tuned to deliver more than 700 horsepower while revving beyond 12,000 rpm. That’s motorcycle-level ferocity wrapped in carbon fiber elegance — and it all happens in a car that weighs less than one ton.

The proportions are spot-on: a long, low nose, a tightly sculpted tail, and a functional rear wing that whispers Le Mans pedigree without shouting it. Inside, the cabin is minimalist but exquisite — every surface purposeful, every control machined with Murray’s trademark precision.

A Car Born from Resilience

For all its engineering brilliance, the S1 LM’s greatest story might be human. Murray developed the car while undergoing treatment and recovery from cancer — a journey that gave the project an emotional depth beyond horsepower and lap times.

“The amount of effort and focus you have to put into a brand-new car is so great that you don’t have time to think about anything else,” Murray shared recently. “Designing this vehicle helped me get through it all. The S1 LM is special for all those reasons.”

The S1 LM, then, isn’t just a supercar. It’s a statement — of survival, of design purity, and of the kind of mechanical passion that doesn’t fade with time.

The Next Chapter

As RM Sotheby’s prepares to bring Chassis #1 under the hammer, the sale feels less like a transaction and more like a passing of the torch. Whoever wins the bid won’t just own a car; they’ll own a slice of living automotive history — one forged by a man who turned recovery into creation, and once again reminded the world what true performance looks like.

If ever there were a machine worth $20 million, this might just be it.

Source: RM Sotheby’s

Auctions

Ayrton Senna’s Legendary 1991 McLaren MP4/6 Heads to Auction

The car that conquered Brazil’s heartbreak is back in the spotlight — and it could fetch up to £11.5 million.

In the pantheon of Formula 1 legends, few moments shimmer with the same emotional charge as Ayrton Senna’s 1991 Brazilian Grand Prix victory. It was the day São Paulo wept with joy, when a two-time world champion finally conquered his home soil — and did so with a car stuck in sixth gear.

Now, that very machine — the McLaren MP4/6 in which Senna wrestled a failing gearbox, muscled through corners with sheer will, and screamed across the finish line to delirious fans — is heading to auction. RM Sotheby’s will offer the historic chassis, MP4/6-1, in a private sale running from December 8th to 11th, with estimates between £9 million and £11.5 million.

This isn’t just another F1 artifact. It’s the first MP4/6 ever built — the prototype that launched McLaren’s 1991 season, tested by Senna and teammate Gerhard Berger at Estoril before making its sole race appearance at Interlagos. After that triumphant day, the chassis was retired, preserved in McLaren’s headquarters for nearly three decades like a holy relic of racing history.

Under its sculpted carbon-fiber skin beats a Honda 3.5-liter V12, one of the last truly analog monsters before F1’s full dive into electronics and semi-automatic transmissions. At Brazil, that engine became both savior and tormentor — Senna had to nurse it through 10 laps with a seized gearbox, feathering the throttle to prevent stalling in slow corners while fending off Riccardo Patrese’s faster, semi-automatic Williams FW14.

He somehow made it work. When the checkered flag waved, Senna was spent — arms numb, voice cracking — yet victorious. It wasn’t just another win. It was Brazil’s redemption through one man’s exhaustion and genius.

Before its last sale in 2020, McLaren Heritage fully restored MP4/6-1 to race-ready condition, ensuring that every detail — from its carbon tub to its Marlboro-era livery — meets the standard of a car capable of running again. The car will be handed over to Lanzante, the British specialists known for bringing McLaren’s track icons back to life, for pre-sale inspection and ignition checks.

Included in the sale: a McLaren certificate of authenticity, an external starter, remote control panel, fuel pump, engine pre-heater — all the paraphernalia needed to awaken a sleeping V12 giant.

For collectors, this is more than a piece of F1 machinery; it’s a monument to endurance, emotion, and the raw heroism of a man who could make a car do the impossible.

Thirty-four years after Senna’s triumph, MP4/6-1 once again takes center stage — not on the tarmac of Interlagos, but on the auction block, where history itself is up for bidding.

Source: RM Sotheby’s

Auctions

The Ferrari Time Capsule: Phil Bachman’s Legendary 48-Car Collection Heads to Auction

In January 2026, the automotive world will witness something that doesn’t happen twice in a lifetime: one of the rarest private Ferrari collections ever assembled will cross the block at Mecum Auctions. Forty-eight Ferraris—each one a jewel of Maranello’s history—are set to find new homes, marking the end of an era and the beginning of another.

For anyone who has ever dreamed of owning a low-mileage Italian thoroughbred, this is the stuff of dreams. The collection spans nearly seven decades of Ferrari’s evolution, from the 1950s to the 2010s, and reads like a love letter to the Prancing Horse itself.

This remarkable assembly was the life’s work of Phil Bachman, an American businessman who built his fortune through a network of dealerships representing brands as diverse as Pontiac, Cadillac, Nissan, and even DeLorean. Bachman passed away in August, leaving behind not just a business legacy, but one of the most meticulously curated Ferrari stables on Earth.

His obsession began in 1984, when he purchased his first Ferrari. From there, his passion evolved into a collection so deliberate, so perfectly preserved, that it borders on the surreal. These aren’t just Ferraris—they’re time capsules.

The oldest car in the collection, a 1953 Ferrari 166 MM/53 Vignale Spyder, shows just 37,306 kilometers. It’s joined by two masterpieces from the 1960s: a 250 GT/L Berlinetta Lusso and a 275 GTB/4 Alloy, both icons of balance and proportion that defined Ferrari’s golden age.

The 1970s chapter of Bachman’s story swells with 11 cars, including a 1975 365 GT4 BB that’s barely been driven—only 443 kilometers separate it from its factory debut.

By the 1980s, Bachman’s tastes had grown bolder, and his garage followed suit. A 1989 Testarossa, its odometer frozen at just 413 km, will no doubt ignite a bidding war. And then comes the transition from analog to digital—Ferrari’s entry into the modern supercar era.

Two Ferrari F40s headline the 1990s portion of the sale, both 1992 models painted in that quintessential Rosso Corsa red. One has 734 km, the other 1,392 km, and both are expected to fetch eye-watering sums. But the rarities keep coming: an F50 with just 404 km, an Enzo showing 1,038 km, and a pair of 360 Challenge Stradales with only a few hundred clicks on their clocks.

Perhaps the most striking example of Bachman’s singular vision is the only factory-painted yellow Ferrari FXX ever built—a track monster so unique it stands apart even in this company. It’s flanked by a matching 430 Scuderia and 16M Spider, both barely exercised.

The finale of this automotive symphony arrives with the 599 GTO (166 km), the 599 SA Aperta (277 km), and the ultimate duo: a LaFerrari Coupe (253 km) and an even rarer LaFerrari Aperta (154 km).

Together, they form an unbroken narrative of Ferrari’s relentless pursuit of speed, beauty, and engineering perfection. Every car is preserved in near-museum condition, a snapshot of the brand’s evolution—frozen in time but ready to roar once again.

In an age when most Ferraris are driven, traded, or tracked, Bachman’s collection stands as something different: an act of devotion. When the auctioneer’s gavel falls in January, the world won’t just be bidding on cars—it’ll be bidding on history.

Source: Mecum