Unique as the vehicles on the previous pages are, most of them follow some type of conceptual blueprint: The first Gullwing took flight 55 years ago; McLarens have been on the road before; there was another Bugatti-branded supercar after the Royale and before the Veyron; Lamborghini built a ferocious mid-engine bull long before the Murciélago; and you can acquire an earlier GTO from Ferrari—for $20 million to $30 million.

McLaren F1
Production run: 1992–98
The McLaren F1 was the first road car from McLaren Automotive. In 1998, its final year of production, the F1 earned the title of the world’s fastest production car when it reached 240 mph. That record has since been broken by at least three cars—the Koenigsegg CCR, the Bugatti Veyron, and the Shelby SuperCars Ultimate Aero TT. However, all those cars are turbocharged; the McLaren F1 is powered by a naturally aspirated, BMW-sourced V-12, which produces 627 hp and enables the car to sprint from zero to 60 mph in 3.2 seconds.

The F1 features a number of design innovations for a production car: It was the first to use a carbon fiber monocoque chassis, and the driver’s seat is located in the middle of the car. The two passenger seats are positioned on either side of the driver’s seat and set slightly back from it. Because of the car’s lack of side airbags, the U.S. version is a single-seater.

McLaren built only 64 examples of the standard street model, each of which sold for $900,000 to $1 million when new. In 1998, at an RM Auctions sale, an F1 sold for about $4.1 million.

Ferrari 250 GTO
Production run: 1962–64
The first Ferrari to bear the GTO label was one of the automaker’s most successful racers, winning the World Manufacturers’ Championship in 1962, ’63, and ’64. And it is widely considered to be one of the most attractive automotive designs ever. Thus the 250 GTO, which cost $18,000 when purchased new in the early 1960s (and buyers had to be approved by Enzo Ferrari and his dealer for North America, Luigi Chinetti), has become one of the world’s most valuable collector cars.

In 1989, during a collector-car market boom, a Japanese buyer purchased a 250 GTO for $14.6 million. More recently, in 2008, British real estate baron Bill Ainscough reportedly sold his 250 GTO for about $28 million. And in May, RM Auctions brokered the private sale of a 250 GTO to British TV/radio personality Chris Evans for a price that in various reports has ranged from $18 million to $30 million.

The car’s value is a function of its rarity as well as its pedigree and appearance. Ferrari built only 39 examples of the 250 GT, a name that denotes the displacement, in cubic centimeters, of each engine cylinder and stands for Gran Turismo Omologato, Italian for Grand Touring Homologated.

Racing rules required that a manufacturer build at least 100 examples of a car for it to qualify, or be homologated, for the manufacturers’ championship. According to Ferrari, the company wanted to compete in 1962 but did not have the capacity to build enough cars before the deadline. Ferrari solved this dilemma by convincing racing’s governing body that the 250 GTO was a variation of the existing 250 GT, and so the production number surpassed the 100-unit mark.

Bugatti EB110
Production run: 1991–95
Bugatti produced the EB110 sports car in its previous incarnation, before it went bankrupt and before Volkswagen acquired the rights to the Bugatti name. The car was introduced on September 15, 1991, which would have been the 110th birthday of the marque’s founder and namesake, Ettore Bugatti—thus the EB110 moniker.

Bugatti built 126 examples of the EB110, which is powered by a V-12 that produces 553 hp and enables the car to accelerate from zero to 60 mph in 3.4 seconds and reach a top speed of 213 mph. Features include scissor doors, a glass engine cover, an all-aluminum body, a carbon fiber monocoque chassis, and an electronically controlled, speed-sensitive rear wing (similar in concept to the Veyron’s).

Two German companies bought the leftover chassis and other EB110 parts when Bugatti went bankrupt and have sold their own versions of the car: the B Engineering Edonis and the Dauer EB110.

Mercedes-Benz 300SL Coupe
Production run: 1955–57
Mercedes-Benz’s original Gullwing was built primarily for Americans, who, while enjoying the postwar economic boom, purchased the vast majority of the 1,400 examples that Mercedes built before discontinuing the coupe, in 1957. (The company continued to offer a roadster version of the 300SL through 1963.) The car was popular enough in the States to help transform the image of Mercedes from a builder of solid but staid automobiles to one that also could produce sexy, sporty vehicles.

The car’s distinguishing feature, its namesake doors, were born more from necessity than whimsy. The racing 300SL that preceded the road version was built around a tubular chassis that was light enough to compensate for the car’s relatively underpowered engine. However, the chassis design necessitated a very high sill, meaning that a standard door would be too short for drivers and passengers get in and out of the car. The gullwing design addressed the door-height issue, though the sill remained high. Mercedes therefore added a tilt feature to the steering column.

Lamborghini Miura
Production run: 1966–72
The Miura preceded the Murciélago as Lamborghini’s first viable mid-engine V-12–powered sports car. In addition to having similar engine configurations, the two cars share another connection, or at least their names do. After surviving 28 sword strokes during a fight in 1879 in Spain, Murciélago, the bull for which the current supercar is named, lived happily ever after on the farm of the Miura’s namesake, bull breeder Don Antonio Miura. There, Murciélago sired some 70 offspring.

Lamborghini was more prolific with the Miura, though the car still was a rarity; the company produced only 764 examples. The story goes that the Miura was originally conceived by members of Lamborghini’s engineering team, who designed the car in their spare time against the wishes of company founder Ferruccio Lamborghini, who preferred grand touring cars over race-derived sports cars like those that rival Ferrari produced. Nevertheless, the car debuted at the 1966 Geneva auto show and was a hit with both the public and the automotive press.

In 2006, Lamborghini presented a retro-styled Miura concept car to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the original car’s introduction. Lamborghini president and CEO Stefan Winkelmann said at the time that the company had no plans to produce the new Miura. So far his words have proven true.