New Ferrari F40 auction record

A low mileage Ferrari F40 sold for 1.12 million Euros (A$1.66m) in Germany over the weekend, establishing a new benchmark for the model at auction.

Sold by Coys at the Oltimer Grand Prix held at the Nurburgring, the one-owner-from-new F40 has covered just 7881km in the last 23 years, the mileage verified by its service history.

Built in December 1992, this F40 was one of the last examples produced, and despite not having been driven since 2010 it had recently been serviced and carried the all-important official Ferrari Classiche certification.

While this example's low mileage and verifiable history no doubt helped in establishing a new record, classic car values across the board are exploding with investors and collectors eager to snap up rare or exotic machinery seemingly at any price.

In 2011, an Australian-delivered F40 was sitting in Maranello Motorsport's Melbourne showroom for $699,000, as an example of just how far prices have risen in recent years.

Other notable results from the same auction were a 1937 BMW 328 Roadster selling for A$862,000 and 1971 Lamborghini Espada reaching A$215,000, itself a record.