With the global second-hand car market booming throughout recent times, we thought we’d take a look back at some of the best cars to be auctioned this year.

Not all were record beaters, but every car on this list had a special place in the annuls of 2021, as their respective breeds become rarer and rarer as electric vehicles slowly gain popularity.

Have a gander and tell us what your favourites were this year and why.

Ford Falcon XA GTHO Phase IV sets ‘record’ for most expensive Australian-made vehicle

Although not official, the rough price of $2 million made this 1972 XA GTHO Phase IV the most expensive Australian vehicle to ever be auctioned.

As one of just four GTHO Phase IVs to be built by the Blue Oval, the 351ci Cleveland V8-powered sedan was instrumental in the 1972 ‘Supercar Scare’, which saw homologation specials mothballed almost overnight.

With 4698 miles on the clock, this Red Pepper XA was sent to a dealer in Sydney as a road car although it was fitted with a roll cage, unfortunately never seeing the track as Ford had intended.

Peter Brock-owned VK Group A Commodore sells for over $1m

What’s more special than a Brock VK? How about a Brock VK once owned by the King of the Mountain, complete with build plate #005?

With three days left on the May auction, bidding surpassed $400,000 before skyrocketing past $1 million as the clock dropped under 24 hours.

Although it had a relatively high 78,000 kilometres on the clock, the HDT VK Group A SS became Peter Perfect’s personal car after it rolled off the line in 1985, with a letter of authentication from John Harvey strengthening its backstory.

The Blue Meanie eventually sold for $1,057,509, well and truly beyond the $200,000 mark which even the most immaculate VKs go for.

XBOSS Falcon sold for $860k

One of the most iconic cars in Street Machine history found a new owner this year, as Chris and Colleen Bitmead put XBOSS up for sale in late November.

Winner of the 2016 Street Machine of the Year title, the 2016 MotorEx Grand Master award and having dominated Street Machine Summernats 2017, XBOSS went up without reserve – not that its owners needed to worry about it not getting any attention.

In under 24 hours, bidding had already reached $400,000 before topping out at $464,900 when the auction ended, however a technical glitch meant a number of bidders were unable to make a last gasp attempt at buying the car.

The auction was restarted for two hours the next day resulting in 102 further bids and a final price of $860,100 – almost $400,000 more than what the Bitmeads were happy to settle for.

VS GTSR #1 sold for $1 million at auction

Perhaps the most pristine Commodore of the 1990s – or any decade – ended up setting a new record for its kind, thanks to its special place in HSV history.

The immaculate HSV VS GTSR was build #001 of 85, having racked up just 86km in its lifetime before going to auction with the plastic pre-delivery covers still wrapping its seats and steering wheel.

Finished in XU3 Yellah – as all GTSRs were – the car was made even more unique by the Holden Racing Team fitting a ‘blueprinted’ engine package to it when it was new – a $10,500 upgrade in 1996.

Eventually selling for over $1m including buyer’s premium, there’s no doubt this will remain as the most expensive GTSR ever for quite some time.

‘Sledgehammer’ Corvette goes to auction

As a deviation from the Australian-centric vehicles mentioned above, we take a look at the Callaway Corvette C4, which once held the speed record for the world’s fastest road-legal car.

Essentially an external tuner which Chevrolet still had a working relationship with, Callaway would take your brand new ‘Vette and turn it up a notch, with the ‘RPO B2K’ examples producing around 400hp from their L98 V8s.

However, the ‘Sledgehammer’ was more akin to giving the C4 a line of Columbia’s finest rather than adding a bit of Tabasco, with significant work going in to the engine so it could handle a 22psi hit from the twin Turbonetics T04 turbos, helping to boost power and torque up to 898hp and 772ft-lb respectively.

Completing the quarter-mile in 10.6 seconds, it was then taken to Ohio’s Transportation Research Center [sic] where it clocked a top speed of 254.76mph (409.9kmh), making it the fastest road-legal car in the world.

This example was barely run in when it sold for a touch over US$500,000 (AU$700,000) this year, with just 2000 miles on the clock, although evidence shows these were far from gentle.