2005 Porsche Carrera GT Smashes Record as Most Expensive BaT Sale

Record-setting auction results have become routine at Bring a Trailer, but the just-completed sale of this 2005 Porsche Carrera GT is notable for topping them all. Selling for $1,902,000, it vaulted to the top of the auction site’s hit parade to become the most expensive car ever sold on BaT, smashing the previous high-water mark of $1.4 million set by a 1961 Mercedes-Benz 300SL roadster in July 2021.

That Carrera GT prices are skyrocketing is not hard to understand. This purist machine could be considered the last analog supercar, and yet it’s also a true exotic. Its 5.7-liter V-10 is naturally aspirated yet features titanium connecting rods, dry-sump lubrication, and an 8400-rpm redline. It’s mated to a six-speed manual transaxle with a novel twin-plate ceramic clutch and drives the rear wheels. There’s no stability control, although there is traction control and ABS. Derived from Porsche’s stillborn Le Mans prototype, the Carrera GT has a carbon-fiber central tub and front structure and carbon-fiber bodywork. The control-arm suspension features pushrod-actuated horizontal coil-over shocks, and the brake rotors are carbon-ceramic.

The design of the production car was hardly changed from the concept car that wowed the crowd at the 2000 Paris auto show. Upon driving it in 2004, we said simply: “We have been to the top of the mountain.”

Obviously, any Carrera GT is desirable. This one was made more so, first by its ultralow mileage, and second by its rare Guards Red livery. It’s believed only 42 Carrera GTs in Guards Red cars were imported to the United States versus 103 Black and 362 GT Silver. This car also has two special options: the wood shift knob and a set of fitted luggage.

This sale also garnered more than 122,000 page views—which would have put it among the top-10 most popular BaT auctions last year—and just over 700 comments. There were also 4910 auction watchers. As for the underbidders, chin up! There’s another Carrera GT on BaT right now. It’s GT Silver but it has even fewer miles: just 250. Raise high your [virtual] paddles, Porsche fans.

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