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Drive like a prince: Join us for a walk through Monaco's car collection

Small, crowded, and a royal pain in the trunk lid to drive into during rush hour, Monaco sounds like an improbable location for a huge car museum. And yet, this tiny city-state has been closely linked to car culture for over a century. It hosts two major racing events every year, many of its residents would qualify for a frequent shopper card if Rolls-Royce issued one, and Prince Rainier III began assembling a collection of cars in the late 1950s. He opened his collection to the public in 1993 and the museum quickly turned into a popular tourist attraction. The collection continued to grow after his death in April 2005; it moved to a new facility located right on Hercules Port in July 2022. Monaco being Monaco, you'd expect to walk into a room full of the latest, shiniest, and most powerful supercars ever to shred a tire. That's not the case: while there is no shortage of high-horsepower machines, the first cars you see after paying ˆ10 (approximately $11) to get in are pre-war models. In that era, the template for the car as we know it in 2023 hadn't been created, so an eclectic assortment of expensive and dauntingly experimental machines roamed whatever roads were available to them. One is the Leyat Helica, which was built in France in 1921 with a 1.2-liter air-cooled flat-twin sourced from the world of aviation. Fittingly, the two-cylinder spun a massive, plane-like propeller. Government vehicles get a special spot in the museum. They range from a Cadillac Series 6700 with an amusing blend of period-correct French-market yellow headlights and massive fins to a 2011 Lexus LS 600h with a custom-made transparent roof panel that was built by Belgian coachbuilder Carat Duchatelet for Prince Albert II's wedding. Here's where it all gets a little weird: you've got a 1952 Austin FX3, a Ghia-bodied 1959 Fiat 500 Jolly, a 1960 BMW Isetta, and a 1971 Lotus Seven. That has to be someone's idea of a perfect four-car garage.  One of the most significant cars in the collection lurks in the far corner of the main hall, which is located a level below the entrance. At first glance, it's a kitted-out Renault 4CV with auxiliary lights, a racing number on the front end, and a period-correct registration number issued in the Bouches-du-Rhone department of France. It doesn't look all that different than the later, unmodified 4CV parked right next to it. Here's what's special about it: this is one of the small handful of Type 1063 models built by Renault for competition.

This $7-million Ferrari LaFerrari is the most expensive modern car ever sold at auction

The Ferrari LaFerrari is already one of the most extreme, high-performance, road-going cars ever built. And now, it's also the most expensive modern car ever sold at auction. Ferrari, along with RM Sotheby's and the National Italian American Foundation's Earthquake Relief Fund, officially sold the car as part of a charity auction benefiting the reconstruction efforts in central Italy. Total price? A whopping $7 million. Ferrari claims its extra LaFerrari – the company originally built this 500th example for its own collection – is the most expensive car from the 21st century ever sold at auction. As we mentioned in our original story from last week, all proceeds from the LaFerrari auction will benefit earthquake-ravaged central Italy. While the LaFerrari's lucky new owner can rest easy knowing their money went to a seriously good cause, they'll also get to enjoy a unique example of the final production LaFerrari. It's a simple tweak, but its Rosso Corsa paint body gets a white "dream line" on its hood and rear windshield, and the Italian tricolor on the nose. We like it, and we're guessing the citizens of central Italy will appreciate the money this special hypercar made for them. Related Video:

James Glickenhaus teases sleek SCG 003 supercar

He may not have known it at the time, but James Glickenhaus started a small revolution when he commissioned Pininfarina to turn his Ferrari Enzo into a tribute to the legendary 330 P3/4. The P4/5 is what resulted, and Ferrari gave its blessing for it to wear the Prancing Horse emblem - something it hadn't done for a coachbuilt custom in decades. A slew of rebodied Ferraris followed, prompting the factory to launch its own coachbuilding division. But Jim wasn't out of the picture.
The former Hollywood filmmaker and investment banker followed up with the P4/5 Competition based on the 430 Scuderia, and started Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus to race it. Now SCG is returning with a new project, and has released this teaser video (which you can view in the embedded Facebook post below) to keep us on our toes.
From the few glimpses the video provides of a rendering, it's hard to tell much, but from what we can see, it looks pretty slick. Just what sort of technical details will form the underpinnings remains to be seen, but we're looking forward to seeing how it turns out.