When a vehicle arrives at the site of an auction, how it gets there is a good indicator of its potential worth. You’d see an open trailer for your average stuff. An enclosed trailer means a bit more dough is at stake. If the car in question shows up via helicopter, your accountant may start to hyperventilate. But that’s how a car like the Gordon Murray Special Vehicles S1 LM is destined to arrive.
A record-breaking sale gives the GMSV team reason to pop expensive champagne in Las Vegas. Chassis number one just sold for $20,630,000—the highest number ever for a new car sold at auction. That’s quite an impressive sum, considering the car isn’t built yet, and no one has even driven it.
So what does the $20M get you? Gordon Murray Special Vehicles plans to build just five examples of the S1 LM. This auction is for the first one. The buyer gets sit-down sessions with Gordon Murray himself to determine how the car will be spec'd. There will be development drive sessions, where the owner can provide some feedback for the engineering team. Three-time Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti will also be in attendance at those sessions.
Finally, the owner will receive a 500-page book highlighting the creation process of their car. Besides being the ultimate coffee-table flex, this book will include original sketches and notes from Gordon Murray’s notebook.
Gallery: Gordon Murray Automotive S1 LM
While it’s true that no one has driven an S1 LM, it’s easy to go out on a limb and say the car should be pretty wonderful. The exterior style is an homage to the 1995 Le Mans-winning McLaren F1 GTR. Under the skin, however, the S1 LM is a modified version of the Gordon Murray Automotive T.50. A 4.3-liter V-12 sits out back, produces around 710 horsepower, and sends that power to the ground through a six-speed manual gearbox.
The cabin is all business. The S1 LM features the iconic centrally located driver’s seat with a pair of passenger seats set back on either side. You’ll need to wear headphones when driving this thing, since the wail of the V12 likely gets rather loud.
Gordon Murray Special Vehicles initially stated that all five models had already been sold. In fact, just one buyer managed to scoop them all up. However, this auction for chassis number one suggests that this may not be the case. Perhaps we will learn more about the owner or owners of the five-car run of the S1 LM after deliveries begin sometime in 2026.
Source: Gordon Murray Automotive
