This Gordon Murray T.50's VIN Confirms It's Chassis 047 of 100 — RM Sotheby's Wants $5.5 Million for ItBackfire NewsEve NowellMon, September 14, 2026 at 5:11 PM UTCAdd us on GoogleThis Gordon Murray T.50's VIN Confirms It's Chassis 047 of 100 — RM Sotheby's Wants $5.5 Million for ItRM Sotheby's is selling one of Gordon Murray's 100 V12 three-seaters without a gavel. The spec sheet, the tax status, and the bidder fine print say more about this car than the odometer does.Read the VIN before you look at the paint. RM Sotheby's lists this 2024 Gordon Murray Automotive T.50 as SA93CAYA1RW458047. Under the federal VIN rule, a 9 in the third position flags a low-volume maker whose identifier continues in positions 12 through 14, and the tenth character is the model-year code, which is R for 2024. What's left at the tail is the serial number: 047. The 47th of 100 T.50s says so right on its birth certificate.The car heads into RM's Sealed September sale, which opens for bids at 2 p.m. Eastern on Sept. 23 and starts closing lots at the same time on Sept. 30. The estimate is £4.2 million to £4.6 million, which RM converts to $5.5 million to $6 million. The listing describes a single-owner car with 62 miles, built to European Union specification with a Certificate of Conformity and never registered. It wears a one-off combination of Harrier paint under satin paint-protection film, with Luffield Tan leather and charcoal Alcantara inside. RM says it has lived in a professional storage facility in the U.K. since GMA finished it and hasn't been driven beyond factory testing.The favorite number, and the birthday that doesn't add upMurray lore loves the number 47. RM's own S1 LM catalog, written for a different Murray car last year, calls it his favorite, says he first used it as the race number on his first design, the T.1, and adds that the McLaren F1's 1995 Le Mans win came on his 47th birthday.Related ArticlesInside Isuzu's Driverless Truck Plan: Real Freight, Real Deadline, One Big CatchWaterproof 2.0-Liter Hybrid Engine Rated for 43 Inches of Water FordingAdvertisementAdvertisementThe first part may be perfectly true. The second part doesn't survive a calculator. The Canepa announcement naming Canepa as GMA's North American representative puts Murray's birth in 1946 and notes the racing F1 won Le Mans on its first attempt in 1995. Born in '46, Murray would have been 48 or 49 at that race. Great story, wrong number of candles. Chassis 047's serial is a fun coincidence, and it doesn't need a myth propping it up.What you're bidding on, and why GMA can't settle on a horsepower figureGMA's technical specification, dated May 2023, is the best map of the hardware. The car weighs 997 kg dry. The Cosworth GMA V12 displaces 3,994 cc from an 81.5 mm bore and 63.8 mm stroke, runs 14:1 compression, uses gear-driven double overhead cams with variable valve timing, titanium connecting rods and valves, and a dry sump. The whole engine weighs 178 kg and revs to 12,100 rpm. A 20 kW, 48-volt integrated starter-generator is gear-driven off the front of the crankshaft. Power goes through an 82 kg transverse six-speed manual with a triple-plate carbon clutch and a Salisbury limited-slip differential.Now the awkward part. That spec sheet lists 670 PS at 11,000 rpm and 479 Nm at 8,000 rpm. GMA's own T.50 page quotes 663 PS at 11,500 rpm and 467 Nm at 9,000 rpm in its body copy, then shows 650 PS in the spec table a few inches below. The auction houses are using the spec-sheet number: 670 PS works out to roughly 661 hp, which is the figure on RM's listing and in Broad Arrow's results release. The 663 PS figure is about 654 hp, which matches what Canepa published around the car's launch, along with a weight of 985 kg. Twelve kilos of growth between reveal and production is a remarkably light touch for any development program, but if the number matters to you, ask RM what this car's Certificate of Conformity actually records.The engine math is where the T.50 earns its reputation. The bore is about 28% larger than the stroke, and at the 12,100 rpm redline that 63.8 mm stroke works out to a mean piston speed of roughly 25.7 meters per second. Short strokes keep piston speeds survivable at extreme revs, and titanium rods and valves cut the reciprocating mass the crank has to fling around. GMA rates the engine at 172 PS per liter without a turbo in sight.AdvertisementAdvertisementThe signature piece is the 400 mm rear fan. The spec sheet lists an 8.5 kW, 48-volt motor spinning to 7,000 rpm and producing 15 kg of thrust, with total downforce of 200 kg at 150 mph and 460 kg at the car's 226 mph top speed. GMA credits the system with 50% more downforce and 12.5% less drag. RM's listing traces the idea to the Brabham BT46B, which dominated the 1978 Swedish Grand Prix before being withdrawn. The practical takeaway for a buyer is that this car's aerodynamics depend on an electrical system, a combined 12- and 48-volt power module, and actuators. That matters on a car that has spent most of its life parked.From £2.36 million to nearly doubleGMA priced the T.50 at £2.36 million before taxes, according to launch materials reprinted by Canepa. RM's estimate is roughly 1.8 to 1.95 times that pre-tax figure. The listing says half the production run sold off Murray's ballpoint sketch and description, two-thirds were spoken for before the public unveiling, and the rest were gone within two days of the premiere. GMA's homepage says all current allocations are fully reserved. If you want in, auctions like this are the door.The obvious benchmark is chassis 009, a U.S.-market example with under 30 delivery miles. Broad Arrow sold it for a final $8,035,000 on April 21 at a dinner stop on the California Mille. The winner was a rally entrant, a portion of the proceeds went to charity, and the buyer was invited to drive the rest of the tour alongside five other T.50s.RM's top estimate sits about $2 million below that result, and I don't think that's a sign the market is cooling. Chassis 009 came with American paperwork, a live room, a charity angle, and a rally invitation handed over with the keys. Chassis 047 is an EU-spec car being sold quietly by sealed bid, with a customs complication attached. The comparison isn't apples to apples on fees, either. RM's sealed sales charge no buyer's premium, so the winning bid is the price before taxes and costs.The bond, the tax man, and the U.S. questionRM's listing includes an addendum worth reading twice. The car entered the U.K. on a temporary import bond, which must be cancelled either by exporting it on an approved bill of lading with customs paperwork or by paying the applicable VAT and import duties to keep it there. That makes chassis 047, a car from a Surrey-based British manufacturer, technically a visitor in its home country.AdvertisementAdvertisementFor a U.K. buyer, the government lays out the path: pay VAT and customs duty at the border, get vehicle approval, then register and tax the car with the DVLA. The U.K.'s standard VAT rate has been 20% since the 2010 Finance Act took effect in January 2011. Applied to a winning bid inside the estimate, that's £840,000 to £920,000 in VAT alone before any duty, assuming no relief applies. A good customs specialist is worth the fee here, because the difference between the right answer and the wrong one is a house.For a U.S. buyer, the dollar estimate is more tempting than it is practical. Under NHTSA's rules, a vehicle younger than 25 years generally has to meet federal safety standards or be brought into compliance. NHTSA's Show or Display path allows up to 2,500 miles a year, but the agency says it generally won't grant eligibility when more than 500 of a model were built, or when a version was built for U.S. sale and certified to federal standards. A U.S.-market T.50 exists, since Broad Arrow just sold one. CBP guidance adds that a permanently imported Show or Display car must also satisfy EPA emissions requirements, usually through an EPA-authorized independent commercial importer. I couldn't find a public NHTSA determination on this car, so talk to a registered importer before you type a number into that bid box.For a European buyer, an EU-spec car with its Certificate of Conformity is the path of least resistance. It's hard not to read the estimate as priced with that buyer in mind.How a sealed sale actually worksRM's bidder conditions make this a very different contest from a live auction. Bidders see only their own bid and ranking, not the high bid. Above 2.5 million in the lot's currency, bids move in increments of 50,000, and this lot is priced in pounds, which is also the currency you pay in. A bid in the final 90 seconds that lands in the top three can extend the close by up to 90 seconds. There's no retracting a bid and no cooling-off period, and the consignor may have a confidential reserve.Related ArticlesDucati Sale Talk Returns as VW Reviews 600 Businesses: What Owners Should KnowAlpine Let Lacoste Design Its Wildest Electric Hot Hatch, and It's Headed for a Concours Lawn, Not a RacetrackAdvertisementAdvertisementRegistering requires government ID, a bank letter unless RM waives it, and a $5,000 card hold. If you win, full payment is due by wire by 5 p.m. Eastern the next business day, which for a Sept. 30 close means Thursday, Oct. 1. Taxes, duties, transport, and storage are on you. So is the risk. The conditions say risk of loss and insurance pass to the buyer the moment the lot closes, so your agreed-value policy needs to be bound before the envelope opens, not after the champagne. There's one unusual wrinkle: if the consignor is a business and the buyer is a consumer, EU and U.K. consumer law can grant a 14-day right to rescind after delivery.Waking up a 62-mile carLow miles aren't the same as fresh. Chassis 047 has been parked since GMA finished it in 2024, and time works on a car whether or not the wheels turn. The spec sheet lists Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S tires, 235/35 R19 in front and 295/30 R20 in back, and rubber ages by the calendar, not the odometer. There's 14 liters of oil in the dry-sump system, an 80-liter fuel tank, carbon-ceramic brakes, and a 12- and 48-volt electrical system feeding the fan, the starter-generator, and the active aero. A thorough inspection before the first real drive should be part of the purchase budget.The satin film deserves a look, too. It gives the Harrier paint its matte effect and protects the finish underneath, which is the part that actually carries value. Film edges, lifting, and any trapped contamination are worth checking before the car moves, because replacing film is an inconvenience and repairing paint under it is a much bigger one.Whoever wins chassis 047 on Sept. 30 gets the 47th T.50 built, with a VIN that proves it. Whether it becomes more than a very expensive number depends on the new owner being willing to give the odometer something to do.Images Via: RM Sotheby's