If you have watched Martin Scorsese’s 2013 movie The Wolf Wall Street, you will know that Jordan Belfort, the titular character portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio, was the heart of it. Every scene that he was in gave you goosebumps. And while the movie and actors garnered immense fame and appreciation, there is something else from the film that is also labelled as prestigious.
A Lamborghini Leonardo DiCaprio drove during a powerful scene in The Wolf Wall Street has sold at auction for a record US$1.655 million. The focal point of RM Sotheby’s luxury car sale during its December 8 Luxury Week event at its New York headquarters was the 25th Anniversary Edition 1989 Lamborghini Countach. The vehicle surpassed the previous record sale for that model by $880,000, as reported by the auction house.
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The Significance
The Countach was central to a haunting sequence in the film, in which stockbroker Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) consumes copious amounts of recreational drugs and gets into the supercar after a struggle, ostensibly making it home safely. Belfort’s actual drive home is then revealed in flashback, with the Italian supercar colliding with several vehicles and objects.
The car was used in the actual stunt sequences and surprisingly emerged with minimal damage, so per Scorcese’s direction, additional damage was inflicted using a flatbed truck. Notably, it was one of two Countach cars used during filming, with the other meeting its end in a stunt where it collided with obstacles, showcasing the film’s extravagance.
Preserved in the same condition it was in on the silver screen, auction house Bonhams said that it serves as “an undisturbed time capsule of the film’s unbridled debauchery and infamous extravagance”. DiCaprio’s costume from the scene is included in the package, along with a director’s chair and clapboard signed by Scorcese, DiCaprio and Margot Robbie, who played Belfort’s second wife Naomi. In all, the luxury car auction raised US$13.61 million with 78% of the lots sold. However, the Lamborghini was not the top moneymaker.
A 1953 Fiat 8V Supersonic by Ghia topped the auction chart with a whopping US$2.4 million sale. The Fiat was one of only 14 built and had been in single-owner care for 22 years. The car had been owned by only four people since it was new and was driven minimally. Another record-setting result was achieved by the 1954 Aston Martin DB2/4 coupe, which recently emerged from a concours-level restoration by Aston expert Kevin Kay. It sold for US$1.1 million.
