Auction highlights 2015 – This is what $161.8m worth of classic cars looks like

From silly to sensible

For a start, this year’s top 10 contain fewer Ferraris, though six out of 10 is still impressive, and telling of the marque’s on-going dominance in the classic car world. No surprises there. The most obvious thing we’ve seen this year is that, despite the hype and marketing that surrounds an auction consignment, buyers have only been prepared to pay top money for the very best examples with the very best provenance. That’s why, to the disappointment of the auction houses, we’ve seen so many underwhelming results in 2015 (compared with last year, at least), with the very few cars that did fetch the big bucks boasting phenomenal histories – the RM Sotheby’s ex-Fangio Ferrari 290MM a good case in point.

There have been glimmers of hope – 1980s supercars, for example – but overall it seems that the top end of the market has slowed somewhat. Silly season is long gone and, so too, have the countless armchair pundits only too keen to jump on the out-of-control bandwagon (perhaps we’re all a little guilty of this). Listed below are the top 10 most expensive cars of 2015...

Number 10

A 1982 Porsche 956, sold at Gooding’s Pebble Beach sale in August for $10,120,000.

Number 9

A 1956 Ferrari 250 GT ‘Tour de France’, sold at the RM Sotheby’s Monterey sale in August for $13,200,000.

Number 8

A 1953 Jaguar C-type Works Lightweight, auctioned at the RM Sotheby’s Monterey sale for $13,200,000.

Number 7

A 1998 McLaren F1, sold at the RM Sotheby’s Monterey sale for $13,750,000.

Number 6

A 1962 Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato, sold at the RM Sotheby’s Driven by Disruption sale in December for $14,300,000.

Number 5

A 1962 Ferrari 250 GT SWB ‘Speciale’, sold at Gooding’s Pebble Beach sale for $16,500,000.

Number 4

A 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB ‘California’ Spider, sold at Gooding’s Pebble Beach sale for $16,830,000.

Number 3

A 1964 Ferrari 250 LM, auctioned at the RM Sotheby’s Monterey sale for $17,600,000.

Number 2

The ex-Alain Delon 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider from the Baillon Collection sold at Artcurial’s Rétromobile sale in February for $18,210,080.