Maserati MC12 Stradale Sells for a Record Price – Nostalgia and Rarity Still Reign

Only 50 examples of the MC12 Stradale were built, split evenly between 2004 and 2005. Mechanically, it was a twin to the Ferrari Enzo, though cloaked in a longer, more dramatic body painted in Maserati’s signature blue and white. Beneath the carbon-fiber skin lay a ferocious 6.0-liter V12 producing 630 horsepower, which two decades ago made it feel like little short of a road-going race car.

The car’s pedigree is rooted in GT1 competition, where the MC12 delivered a haul of victories and championship titles for Maserati. That racing heritage, coupled with the car’s extreme rarity, has turned it into an auction darling. The latest hammer price soared nearly 40 percent beyond the previous record, a clear signal that collectors prize scarcity and motorsport lineage even more than cutting-edge technology.

Maserati, naturally, hails the result as validation of its “timeless design and engineering.” In truth, the sale underlines the collector world’s near-obsessive chase for icons of the 2000s – an era when naturally aspirated V12s were still gloriously loud, defiantly uncompromising and very much alive. Today the marque builds limited-run specials like the MCXtrema, but the real money continues to flow toward the relics of its past.