From its earliest days over six decades ago, the Mustang was about style and speed at an accessible price. Over 10 million cars (and counting) later, and that’s still what the Mustang is all about, from new ones in the showroom to countless weekend classics.
Not all Mustangs, however, are for the masses. Some, with the right kind of history and configuration, get collectors clamoring. Here are the most expensive ones to ever cross an auction block.
Sold for $1,100,000 at Mecum Indianapolis 2020
Riding high on his Ford-powered Cobra’s success, Carroll Shelby turned his attention to the new Mustang in 1965, and called his new pepped-up pony car the GT350. The first run of GT350s in 1965 numbered just 562 cars of all types, then Shelby softened the cars somewhat for 1966, and sold a lot more of them. Including the GT350H (Hertz) rent-a-racers, 2378 GT350s were built for ’66. Almost all of them were fastbacks. Almost.
Four “experimental” convertibles were built on the ’66 GT350 platform, in anticipation of a convertible version of the redesigned ’67 car. The four drop-tops were also the last four ’66 GT350s built, all painted different colors (Ivy Green, Red, Sapphire Blue, Springtime Yellow), half automatics, and half four-speeds. They were reportedly the only 1965-66 GT350s fitted with factory air conditioning, too. Chassis SFM6S2375 is the Ivy Green automatic one, the first of the four by serial number, reportedly the only one with its original engine, and has been fitted with a period-optional Paxton supercharger. Its $1.1M sale price in 2020 is several times what a ’66 fastback was worth at the time, but you know what they say about the price going up when the top goes down.
Sold for $1,265,000 at Mecum Monterey 2021 (and for $984,500 at RM Amelia Island 2014)
Of those 562 Shelby GT350s built in 1965, just three dozen were full competition-spec GT350R models. GT350Rs steamrolled the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) B-Production category, racking up multiple regional and national championships, but chassis SFM5R538 is represented as the “winningest Shelby ever.” It took 17 straight victories in 1968-69 with owner/driver Charlie Kemp at the wheel. Through 1971, he reportedly entered 54 races, finished 42, and won 32. In 1968, it clocked 184 mph on the back straight at Daytona, which is apparently the highest known speed recorded by a 289-powered Shelby, including the Cobras.
Kemp re-acquired the car in the 2000s and restored it, then sold it at auction for nearly a million dollars in 2014. It was then restored again before its latest trip across the auction block.
Sold for $2,200,000 at Mecum Kissimmee 2019 (and for $1,391,000 at Mecum Indianapolis 2013)
The GT500 was the first big-block Shelby Mustang, motivated by a modified version of Ford’s 428-cid Police Interceptor engine. This GT500, though, is no ordinary GT500, and its moniker—Super Snake—became magic words among Mustang fans.
Built in preparation for a high-speed test and promo opportunity for Goodyear Thunderbolt tires, the Super Snake ditched the standard GT500 engine for a lightweight 427 lifted from a GT40 and good for 600hp. After the car finished the promo stunt by driving 500 miles at an average speed of 142 mph, Shelby American hoped for a limited production run, but the project was too expensive, and this car remained the one and only Super Snake.
The Super Snake has held the record for world’s most expensive Mustang not once, but twice. It sold back in 2013 for $1.4M, and it held that record for six years before it dethroned itself at $2.2M in 2019.
Sold for $3,400,000 at Mecum Kissimmee 2020
A year after the Super Snake broke its own record, the world’s most famous Mustang sold publicly for the first time. The original, real-deal hero car from Steve McQueen’s 1968 film Bullitt has quite the story behind it. The Highland Green ’68 fastback not only starred in one of the best movie car chases of all time, it also had a second life with the Kiernan family, who revealed their long-term ownership of the car to Hagerty in 2016 and brought it to car shows around the country for a couple of years before selling it at auction in 2020.
It is also in the National Historic Vehicle Register, cementing its identity as one of America’s most significant automobiles.
Sold for $3,850,000 at Mecum Indianapolis 2020 (and for $3,750,000 at Mecum Kissimmee 2022)
If the Bullitt Mustang’s record price stayed unbeaten for several years, it wouldn’t have shocked anybody. Instead, the record lasted just a few months. But if any Mustang was going to topple Bullitt from the top, it’s SFM5R002. It’s not only one of those 36 genuine GT350Rs, it’s the very first one. Ken Miles spent hours driving it during testing and development, and so did Bob Bondurant, Chuck Cantwell, Pete Brock, and Jerry Titus.
The car snagged the first-ever win for a Shelby Mustang and won several more. Shelby used it as a factory demonstrator, and it graced the covers of both Sports Car Graphic and Road & Track. It was restored to its original configuration before its record-setting auction appearance in 2020. And although it sold for a bit less in 2022, the car’s two sale prices are still the first and second highest prices anyone has ever paid (publicly) for a Mustang.
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