Where to buy an old Formula One Car, the guide

Formula One soaks up millions each year, with some of the most technically advanced racing cars on the planet many fans can only dream of ever driving or even owning an F1 car. Much of the money is brought in through high-profile sponsorship deals and of course the hordes of fans flocking to events to see the machines and their drivers at events. A lot of this income goes towards making the cars better, faster and in turn more expensive.

Realistically, if you ever want to own an F1 car you’re going to have to save up for a while (be seriously rich); But what are the options? It’s not actually as impossible as it sounds. And if not an actual fully-running car, what is the next best thing?

Fully fledged F1 car

If we step back in time a bit it is actually a very viable option to buy an older Formula One car. Again, this isn’t cheap but we’ll start with "RaceCars". They offer race-used and ex-F1 cars from 1974 to as late as 1999. Admittedly these also range from fully running ready-to-race cars to engineless showcars. They provide actual vehicles from Benetton, Honda, Arrows and Tyrell with price tags ranging between €40,000 and €729,000. This is obviously determined by the age, usability and who drove it. The main site also offers a huge range of ex-race cars from all series including F3 and F3000 from the historical and modern eras. If an F1 car is just out of your price range then maybe you might want to settle for a single-seater for use on the track.


A newly formed company, PF1 has acquired some late-model Jordan, Jaguar and Super-Aguri cars which they have kitted out with Ford Cosworth V10 engines capable of kicking out a healthy 875 hp. Their intention is to help more wealthy fans own and drive an F1 car without the worry of maintaining it themselves. The UK based company charges £300,000 (€400,000) for the car, plus £2,500 (€3,300) for membership in Club PF1. This is actually fairly cheap if compared to the tag on a road-going supercar. As mentioned this covers the ownership, organization of track days, maintenance and garage space. Kind of like sponsoring an animal, like a cheetah… Except you get to drive it!

F1 Sales also offers older cars, mostly Benetton’s as can be seen on their site. If this is too much then you can always buy a high performance engine, although one starts to wonder what you’d do with it without a car to put it in. Again, some of these cars aren’t as much as you’d think considering their condition but a pretty penny all the same. They also provide other goods an services in relation to F1 but I’ll be getting to those later. It’s starting to become apparent that what seemed to be only possible in a dream world is certainly feasible.

Another site certainly worth a browse is Race Cars Direct. This is a multi-national listings site with a huge range of all sorts of cars. We spotted some 80's/90's Benetton's and other ex-F1 cars that are in running condition. The average price range is around €45,000 - €60,000 which is only the same as a pricey road car. Although maintenance may cost a bit on top, these could even make good trackday or just enthusiasts cars. As well as these there are several Formula 3 cars and other open wheelers while not the same kind of history are sure to be fun behind the wheel.

Private dealers such as Hall And Hall and Cars International Kensington also sell on many historic cars for collectors etc although these are only priced on request as they’re fairly serious business. The odd car or two can be found at auctioneers, which are again attended mostly by aristocrats that throw money at collector’s cars like it was nothing.