[h=2]Tucker 48 $1.5 million[/h] Source: Patrick Ernzen/RM Sotheby’s

While most ’40s cars were warmed-over versions of pre-war models, the 1948 Tucker looked like something out of the future, and with safety-minded features like a reinforced passenger cell, padded dash, and third headlight that turned with the wheels, it was. The brainchild of industrialist Preston Tucker, the company earned national attention after a successful public relations and fundraising tour, but it only managed to build 51 cars built before it ran out of money. Tucker’s collapse became a national scandal, and U.S. government indicted the company’s executives for fraud. Because of their rarity and historical significance, the Tuckers have become some of the most valuable American cars ever built. This car was sold by RM Sothebys in August 2014 for $1,567,500