Lindner Nöcker lightweight E-type
When the only factory-built Low Drag Lightweight E-type was crashed at Monthléry in 1964, killing owner-driver Peter Lindner, the wrecked car was impounded and then locked away for years. UK restoration specialists CMC bought the remains of the car in 2007 and undertook a 7000-hour restoration to restore the original body and reunite it with its original mechanical parts.

Cugnot steam car replica
The very first powered vehicle was built by Joseph Cugnot in 1770. Powered by steam, and using a clever ratchet design to transfer drive to the single front wheel, Cugnot’s creation was finally housed, incomplete, in a Paris museum. Frenchman Alain Cerf, of Florida’s Tampa Bay Automobile Museum, undertook the massive feat of creating an accurate, working replica, discovering much about the original design along the way.

Porsche Type 64
Just three examples of Porsche’s first ever car, the Type 64 Rekordwagen, were built. They were intended for the 1939 Berlin-Rome race, but the event was cancelled. Car number one was wrecked by a VW board member, and used to create car number three, which still exists. Car number two was destroyed by American GIs but many parts, lost for years, were painstakingly tracked down by Hamburg’s Prototyp Museum as part of a massive project to recreate the original, finally completed early in 2011.

Ferrari Testa Rossa prototype
When historic cars sell for multi-millions, the world sits up and takes notice. When Ferrari Testa Rossa chassis number 0666 TR ­ the prototype ­ sold for $16,390,000 at Gooding & Company’s Monterey auction in August, it became the highest price car sold at auction in history, making headlines worldwide. The high value reflects the rarity and originality of the car, its provenance, and the steady recognition that cars as ‘rolling sculpture’ can provide more enjoyment than traditional artworks.

Prince Charles’ Aston Martin DB6 Volante
In front of a worldwide audience estimated at two billion, Prince William drove his new bride Catherine from the lunchtime reception at Buckingham Palace back to Clarence House in his father’s 1969 MkII Volante. The car, one of only 38 built, was a 21st birthday present to Prince Charles from the Queen, and has recently been converted to run on 100% bioethanol fuel distilled from surplus English wine.

Jaguar E-type 9600 HP
The oldest surviving E-type, built as a prototype and registered as 9600 HP, was famously driven from the Jaguar factory to the Geneva show for the launch of the E-type in 1961, although it had already been used for extensive testing by that point. In 2011, 9600 HP has been central to many of the high-profile 50th anniversary celebrations.