Behold The Most Expensive American Car Ever Auctioned

American automakers may not have produced as big-ticket classics as some of their European counterparts, but some have still been known to fetch seven-, even eight-figure price tags. And this is the most valuable yet.

It’s a 1935 Duesenberg SSJ that Gooding & Company sold at Pebble Beach this year for an astonishing $22 million. That’s the highest price ever paid at auction not only for an American car, but also for a pre-war vehicle (that is, built before the outbreak of World War II).

And not by a small margin, either. By our account, the next most valuable American car ever sold at auction was a 1962 Shelby 260 Cobra that RM Sotheby’s sold in Monterey two years ago for about $14 million. And the next highest price paid for a pre-war car was a 1932 Bugatti Type 55 that Gooding also sold in Monterey two years ago for ~$10.5m.

The same auction house sold another Duesenberg – a 1931 Model J long-wheelbase coupe – in 2011 for $10.3m. Most of the highest-value cars are Ferraris from the 1960s.

So why the high price for this one? For starters, “it’s a Duesy.” (Literally: that’s where the expression comes from). It’s also one of only two SSJs ever made, and the first time one has come up for auction.

This one belonged to legendary actor Gary Cooper (the other was owned by Clark Gable), and packs a supercharged straight eight good for 400 horsepower – an immense figure in its time, making this one of the fastest production cars of that era, capable of achieving 140 miles (225 kilometers) per hour.

It also has quite a notable history, Cooper having sold it to Briggs Cunningham, whose collection was bought by Miles Collier late in 1986. And it’s remained in that noted collector’s hands ever since.

“Many vehicles are billed as ‘speedsters’ or ‘racers,’ but the Duesenberg SSJ really was,” said Collier. “Peaking at 140mph in 1935, it was simply an unbeatable performer, matched by unbeatable style.”

The Duesy was far and away the top seller at Gooding’s 15th Annual Pebble Beach Auctions, but it wasn’t the only multi-million-dollar lot. No fewer than 25 lots crested the million-dollar mark, and 23 world records were set. Along with the Duesenberg, a Maserati A6GCS/53 Spider and Ferrari 500 Mondial (both from 1955) sold for over $5 million, an unraced 2007 Porsche RS Spyder sold for $4.5m, and a 1959 Porsche 718 RSK went for $3.74m

“We are thrilled to set so many new world records. The prices achieved reflect the winning combination of the highest quality and never previously offered motor cars for public sale, creating a huge demand,” said David Gooding. “The strength of the pre-war category was surely evident with our emerging collectors. They were drawn to the cars that they had never had an opportunity to bid on previously. Overall, this was a remarkable and historic sale!”

Photos by Mathieu Heurtault and Mike Maez, courtesy of Gooding & Company