The last Bugatti Veyron was handed over to its owner earlier this year, but the first one ever sold was recently up for grabs again. It was one of the highlights at the RM Auctions sale during Monterey Car Week, where it crossed the block at $1,815,000.
Over one decade in production, the Veyron morphed into many special editions, as well as the Grand Sport roadster and Super Sport and Vitesse models built to cement the Veyron’s hold on the world speed record for production cars.
Yet even as the most basic of Veyrons, chassis 001 is still impressive, to say the least. Its 8.0-liter W16 engine puts out around 1,000 horsepower, which is sent to all four wheels to hurl the red-and-black coupe to a top speed of 253 mph. That was a world record when this car was new back in 2005, but it’s since been officially surpassed by the SSC Ultimate Aero, and Bugatti’s own 268-mph Veyron Super Sport.
Incidentally, the $1.8 million auction sale price is only a small increase from the $1,250,000 base price quoted by Car and Driver when the Veyron first went on sale a decade ago. Then again, there are few if any other 10-year-old cars that have held their value, let alone appreciated.
The first Veyron showed just 764 miles on its odometer at the time of sale. It was part of the impressive Pinnacle Portfolio collection, which also included a McLaren F1 upgraded to racing-style LM spec, which sold for $13.7 million, and the final Ferrari Enzo, which sold for just over $6 million.
Bugatti originally planned to build just 300 Veyron coupes, but it later added 150 Grand Sport roadsters for a total of 450 cars. That includes the Super Sport and Vitesse derivatives, as well as special editions like the “Legend” models built to honor notable figures from the carmaker’s history.
A successor to the Veyron is widely rumored. Parent company Volkswagen has hinted that this car may be a hybrid, and it’s expected to be called Chiron.
