Carroll Shelby's Daytona Sets U.S. Car Sale RecordGooding Christie'sHere in 2026, Monterey Car Week has become America's premier automotive event, so it's only fitting that it's host to some of the most prestigious auctions around the world. And when word arrived that a genuine Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe would be making its way to the party by way of Gooding Christie's, we all knew something big was on the horizon. Well, that very car just set a new record as the most expensive American car ever sold at auction, reaching a total sale price of $42,905,000.The Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe, in case you're somehow unfamiliar, is among the rarest and most desirable American sports cars ever produced. Designed by Peter Brock and developed by Ken Miles as a way to get more top-end speed out of the Cobra platform, the Daytona Coupe brought a roof, revised bodywork, and a unique Kamm tail to the open top bruiser. The adjustments made an immediate result to the level of performance on offer, and arrived just in time to do battle against Ferrari's Colombo V-12-powered 250 GTO.And battle they did. Mechanical issues towards the end of the race prevented the Daytona from landing on the podium at Le Mans in 1964, with the car settling for a class victory and fourth-place overall instead. (For reference, Ferrari's 250s finished fifth, sixth, and ninth, respectively.) That said, more consistent performances during the 1965 season saw the Coupe take home the FIA GT Championship, an accomplishment no other American car has under its belt. Overall wins at the sport's most hallowed venues eluded the closed-top Cobra, however.Only seven Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupes were ever built, and this car, CSX2300, is the only one that continued to have an active racing career after 1965. The car would go on to take wins at events at Suzuka and Fuji in 1966, and was said to have been used as a street car around Tokyo until its departure in 1968. By 1975, Carroll Shelby purchased the car back, keeping it under his care until 1998. That makes CSX2300 the only Daytona Coupe ever personally owned by Shelby, which is a nice value-ad for the die-hards.AdvertisementAdvertisementDaytona Coupes simply don't come up for sale very often, owing to the fact that so few exist. Monterey was home to the last public sale back in 2009 with Mecum Auctions, where CSX2601 sold for a whopping $7,685,000. A lot has changed in the car market since then, but it's clear that the Shelbys are starting to get the appreciation they deserve from a collector standpoint. I mean, it takes a pretty special car to rival the values of the 250 GTO ... or the first Luce EV for that matter. I know which one I'd rather spend $40 million or so on.You Might Also LikeIf You Can Only Own One Car, Make It One of TheseThese Are the Most Popular Cars by State