AN ULTRA-rare supercar has sold for an eye-watering price at an auction.
The luxury 12-cylinder engine Pagani Zonda 760 LM Roadster recently sold for £8.67 million at a Sotheby’s auction.
The Zonda 760 LM Roadster stands out not only for its blistering top speed of 217mph but also for its ultra-rare status.
The exclusive vehicle represents the pinnacle of engineering and design by Italian automaker Pagani.
Inside, it boasts a competition-ready interior complete with suede and leather bucket seats, a custom Alcantara-trimmed steering wheel, and green stitching that mirrors the car’s striking exterior accents.
First introduced in 1999, the Pagani Zonda quickly earned a reputation as one of the most exceptional supercars ever made.
The 760 series, which is the most powerful iteration of the Zonda, is powered by a 7.3-liter AMG V12 engine that produces 760 horsepower and propels the car from 0 to 60 mph in just 2.6 seconds.
The 760 LM Roadster is one of only 20 cars in the 760 series, making it an even rarer find for collectors.
As the Zonda celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2024, it is considered one of the greatest supercars ever built, alongside the likes of the McLaren F1 and Porsche 911 GT1.
Its lightweight carbo-titanium construction is a testament to Pagani’s engineering prowess.
The car, which only had 6,000 miles on the clock, was registered in Andorra and sold in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates.
RM Sotheby’s, a strategic partnership between RM Auctions, which deals in classic car auctions, and Sotheby’s, said: “These represent the pinnacle of the product range for Pagani and are a result of state-of-the-art knowledge, technological application, driveability, and safety.
“The uniqueness of the stylistic expression makes the design features of the model exclusive, as well as the direct involvement of the customer and Pagani’s team.
“In this case, for the first time with the Zonda offered here, the client asked Pagani to create a new Zonda model inspired by the Le Mans sport prototypes.
“This entailed the development of 60 dedicated components, including the original front bonnet with its distinctive design and belonging to the two unique existing LMs-one Coupe and one Roadster.
“Together with the rest of the bodywork, required a dedicated aerodynamic study due to the uniqueness of the shapes in order to optimise the vehicle’s extreme performance.”
Due to its exclusivity, Pagani Automobili keeps the moulds for all 60 components if they ever need to be replaced.
The auction house added: “The vehicle book, which is made for each individual car and meticulously collects the entire history of each component since its birth and completes the information with the entire maintenance programme along its life, can be consulted in the company’s Atelier.”
It comes after a century-old classic car dumped in a garage for four decades has sold for a whopping price.
The pre-WW2 Talbot-Darracq 16hp open tourer was stored in a barn by its owner who was a British Army officer serving in Germany.
The leaf-green motor was made in 1921 and it has been likened to the car in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
It was bought in 1967 for £750 and was used frequently at first.
It had its last MoT in 1982 and was then taken off road and stored in an open but dry barn, in Suffolk.
The engine was turned over from time to time to keep it free as reported by Luxury Auto News.
