What changed hands?
1964 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe. Lot 39. Most expensive American car ever sold at auction.
The most expensive American car
The 1964 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe's $42.9 million result at Gooding & Company's Pebble Beach auction made it the most expensive American car ever sold at public auction, surpassing every previous domestic marque record. Only six Daytona Coupes were built, and this was the finest surviving example.
Racing history with a pedigree
The Daytona Coupe was built for international GT racing in the 1960s, competing at Daytona, Sebring, and Le Mans. Its combination of racing provenance, American origin, and extreme rarity — only six were constructed — drove the result to a new plateau for domestic automobiles at auction.
Read the number carefully
An auction result captures a particular object, a particular sale and the buyers competing on that occasion. It does not establish the value of every similar object, or what this one would sell for today.
Our selection keeps historical results separate from asking prices and estimates. Where the cited report does not break out fees, we say so rather than inventing a hammer price.
Sale documentation: Gooding & Company press release — 2026 Pebble Beach ↗
What does “source reviewed” mean?
We checked the published report against the amount and object listed here. That does not independently authenticate the object or confirm settlement of the transaction.
