This custom rig just sold for an incredible $13.2m!

Go big or go home!

This astonishing one-of-a-kind 1984 Peterbilt 359 Ultra Custom TT Crew Cab made history on Saturday (23 November) when it sold for a massive $13.2m.

The hammer came down to whoops and cheers at Worldwide Auctioneers’ inaugural Riyadh Live Auction, as the rig broke the record for the highest figure achieved by a custom vehicle at auction.

Impressive stuff! So what makes it so special? Read on to find out.

Number crunching

Perhaps unsurprisingly, this vehicle is all about the big figures

It’s known as Thor, weighs 32,000lbs and is a massive 44ft long. Plus it’s powered by not one but two 852cu in diesel V12s, giving it the largest engine ever installed in a street-legal vehicle.

And with 3974hp, thanks in no small part to its 12 superchargers and nitrous injection, it is also the most powerful big rig ever built.

Flame-spitting mega rig

Feeling brave? It can hit 130mph – which is not something we thought we’d ever say about a 32,000lb monster. Thankfully, this classic truck is also fitted with power disc brakes and four 12ft drag-style parachutes to slow it down.

It featured on Jay Leno’s Garage and is the result of a seven-year build by Mike Harrah, who poured thousands of hours, imagination and a not inconsiderable level of skill into this astonishing chrome-plated, polished-aluminium project.

With its 1933 Ford-style grille, bumpers decorated with flame motifs, sunroof, air horns, chrome Norse God trim and, at the rear, a Thor mural, there really is nothing else like it.

Oh, and we should also mention that its eight tyres all have chrome rims and spiked hubcaps.

Polished to perfection

The amount of time its new owner will have to spend polishing this to keep it looking its best doesn’t bear thinking about.

And there’s further excess inside the bespoke cabin: it’s wrapped in leather and has a polished-aluminium dash plus a crazy number of gauges, including one for each of those 12 superchargers.

Custom paint, carved skulls and LEDs also feature in this suitably over-the-top cabin, as well as a 1500 Watt stereo and seven integrated video screens, including a 40-inch one in the cab.

Out of this world

All in all, it’s one awesome bit of kit – and one that its lucky new owner will hopefully enjoy displaying at shows across the United States.  

But incredibly, it wasn’t the only record-breaker at Worldwide’s weekend auction…

1981 BMW M1

Described as ‘perhaps the finest road version M1 in the world’, this BMW was another very notable lot when it went under the hammer on Saturday.

In fact, as far as we can see, its $1m sale price is a new world record for the model!

1981 BMW M1 (cont.)

That massive sale tag shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise, though – after all, it’s covered just 703km and is one of a mere 399 roadgoing examples.

What’s more, it’s just come out of long-term storage and has recently been serviced; it was even sold with its original, unopened toolkit.

Full results from Worldwide Auctioneers’ Riyadh auction won’t be realised until the end of the The Salon tomorrow (26 November), but we reckon that’s a pretty impressive showing for this inaugural sale.