A 1964 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe has sold for $42,905,000 at Gooding Christie's, setting a new record price for an American car at auction. The car, chassis CSX2300, went into the sale with pre-sale guidance of more than $25 million, and bidding moved fast, jumping to $39 million before landing at the final figure.

CSX2300 is the third of only six Daytona coupes ever built, and the only one that Carroll Shelby himself owned. Designer Peter Brock shaped its aerodynamic body with a single purpose in mind: to beat Ferrari's 250 GTO on the track. The car earned its racing credentials at Daytona, Sebring, the Nurburgring, the Tour de France and Reims, a competition record few American sports cars can match.

The result almost doubles the previous American-car record of $22 million, paid for a 1935 Duesenberg SSJ at Pebble Beach in 2018. It still sits well below the global record for any car at auction: the $142 million paid for the 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe, followed by $53.9 million for a 1954 Mercedes W196 sold in February 2025.

Shelby, the late designer and racer whose name the car carries, built the Daytona coupes to take on Ferrari in international endurance racing. Only six Daytona coupes were ever built, and CSX2300's period in Shelby's own hands sets it apart from the other five. More than sixty years after it was built, the third coupe's combination of rarity, race history and its famous first owner has now made it the most valuable American car ever sold at auction.