First Shelby GT500, Supra sell for millions at charity auctions
The Supra netted nearly double the money the GT500 did.
When it comes to auctioning first-off-the-line cars for charity, the bids can reach surprising heights, as was the case with some high-profile auctions this past week.
The first 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 fetched $1.1 million at the Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale, Arizona. VIN 001 brought in that much money because 100 percent of the proceeds were earmarked for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
The GT500 builds on the already-righteous GT350 by ditching the 5.2-liter V8's flat-plane crank in favor of a honkin' supercharger. It's good for somewhere north of 700 horsepower, and with aerodynamic trickery galore, it's bound to be a riot on the track. The lucky auction winner won't get the car that crossed the line -- rather, they'll get the chance to pick their favorite color and options before it gets built. The car that crossed the block was a preproduction model.
That's a lot of scratch, but it's for a good cause. If the final price went into Toyota's pocket, you can bet your bottom dollar it wouldn't have sold for $2.1 million.
And then there's the 2020 Toyota Supra. While the GT500 won an impressive amount for charity, it couldn't hold a candle to the $2.1 million bid that won the Supra. Like the Ford , all proceeds go to charity -- in this case, they benefit the Bob Woodruff Foundation and the American Heart Association.
While the GT500's new owner gets to customize their car ahead of production commencing, the Supra owner will get a single spec -- it'll sport a matte gray paint job, red mirror caps, matte black wheels and a red interior. Like the GT500, though, the car on display won't be the one going to the owner, since production hasn't yet started. The owner will take possession of the first Supra later this year.
Ford's GT500 auction wasn't even the biggest Ford auction of the weekend. Ford also auctioned off the first Ford GT Heritage Edition, complete with a throwback Gulf livery, at Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale. That one fetched an impressive $2.5 million, all of which will be given to the United Way for Southeastern Michigan. All told, Ford donated some $3.6 million to charity in the last week.
Given the higher price of the GT, the fact that it outsold the GT500 at auction should only be slightly surprising.
GT500: How does it stack up to competitors?
Supra: How's it look against the competition?