Euromillions fever soared last week when the jackpot prize rolled over to €180,000,000 and peaked when news broke that the prize was won by just two tickets - one of which was sold in Ireland. Naturally, being in the business that we are, talk on the subject soon turned to the list. You know, the car list. We all have one made out in our heads - what would one buy with a prize that significant?
For me it would first mean finding a property that is capable of housing what I refer to as 'the collection'. You see, with that sort of win you would be able to build a pretty decent garage line-up, which I will now share with you. These are in no particular order of course.
Rolls-Royce Phantom - still every bit as opulent as when it was first launched, the Phantom just oozes class and is as refined as it is indiscreet. That is more of a car to be driven in though and if you want to be more subtle then perhaps going for a new...
Range Rover will be more up your street. At €135,000-ish it is now more of a choice of the high-net-worth individuals of the world. Seriously luxurious and more discreet than the Roller. Naturally you'd have to go for a black one with tinted windows.
Then there is the fun end of things - sports cars. Right now you have a pretty broad range of options, but read any group test and most will say the Ferrari 458 Italia is the one to go for. I would be inclined to agree but they are now relatively commonplace and that would just put me off. So instead I would choose something that is still recent enough from the Maranello stable - the 599 GTO. Limited in numbers and the ultimate version of the very capable 599 range. Some argue that it isn't deserving of the GTO badge. Personally I'm still not sure either, which is why I would have to add in...
A Ferrari 250 GTO. It has all the pedigree one would want in order to justify the enormous price tag, provided of course that you could locate one for sale. They tend not to come up too often and the last one that did had an asking price somewhere in the region of €40 million. They may not be cheap but of the 39 built all survive and each one is different in some way. All were raced competitively to varying degrees of success and back in 1962 when they first came on the scene top speeds of 290km/h must have seemed insane.
The only modern car that must still seem equally as insane is the Bugatti Veyron. By now most of you will know the crazy numbers associated with this car that easily qualify it as a bona fide Euromillions purchase. Yes the stratospheric top speed may be rather difficult to replicate in the real world, but this car is as much about knowing you can do that speed as it is actually doing it. Everyone will of course know that you're loaded if they see you driving around in one, but then again after winning that kind of jackpot, would you really care?