Inside Nick Mason's $100 Million Car Collection
You know him as the drummer of Pink Floyd.
But what you probably don’t know…
is that he owns one of the most insane car collections on Earth.
We’re talking about machines worth over $100 million.
Some so rare, most collectors will never even see one in real life.
And the craziest part?
He actually drives them.
It all began in 1977 when Mason bought his first
serious car — a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO. At the time, it wasn't the insanely
valuable machine it would become. He didn't buy it as an investment. He bought
it because he loved it — the sound it made, the way it felt alive in his hands,
the history sitting underneath that bodywork. As Pink Floyd's success grew
through the late seventies and eighties, so did his ability to feed that
obsession. The band was generating serious money, and quietly, Mason was
channelling his passion into something extraordinary. He never talked about the
collection the way investors talk about assets. He talked about driving, about
racing, about the responsibility of keeping these machines alive. That mindset
is exactly what separates a true collector from someone simply parking money in
metal.
The heart of the entire collection is that same
1962 Ferrari 250 GTO he bought all those years ago. Widely considered the most
valuable production car ever built, comparable GTOs have sold at auction for
over $70 million. Only 36 were ever made. Just owning one is an achievement
that puts you in the rarest company on earth. But what makes Mason's
relationship with this car genuinely special is that he actually drives it. He
has raced it at the Le Mans Classic and the Mille Miglia. He doesn't keep it
locked behind glass and roped off from the world. He takes it out, pushes it
hard, and lets it do exactly what Ferrari built it to do. The GTO runs a
3.0-litre V12 producing around 300 horsepower — modest by modern standards, but
in the early 1960s it was a weapon. Owning a 250 GTO is one thing. Racing one
across the Italian countryside takes a completely different level of love for
the machine.
But the GTO is just the beginning. Mason's
collection includes cars that didn't just sit beautifully on display — they
competed at the absolute highest levels of motorsport. His 1969 Ferrari 312P is
a genuine factory endurance racer, built in tiny numbers and campaigned
directly by Ferrari's own works team. Having one in private hands is
extraordinary by any measure. Then there's his Bugatti Type 35 — one of the
most successful Grand Prix cars ever built. The Type 35 dominated racing
throughout the late 1920s, winning hundreds of events and writing its name
permanently into motorsport history. Mason also owns a McLaren F1 GTR, the full
racing variant of the car that famously won Le Mans in 1995 in near-standard
form. Each of these machines represents a different chapter in the story of motorsport,
and together they tell a story that no book, no museum, and no highlight reel
could ever fully capture.
One area where Mason's collection truly stands
apart is his pre-war machinery — cars from the 1920s and 1930s when motoring
was raw, mechanical, and genuinely dangerous. His Bugatti Type 35B is among the
finest surviving examples anywhere in the world, a lightweight alloy
masterpiece that demands almost surgical care just to keep running. He also
owns an Alfa Romeo 8C 2300, a pre-war icon that combined Italian elegance with
serious race performance. Driving these cars requires a completely different
skill set. There are no driver aids, no power steering, no safety systems of
any kind. Everything is mechanical and direct. Mason has spoken about the
unique satisfaction of piloting something this old — the way it communicates
every surface, every corner through your hands. It's a driving experience
almost entirely lost in the modern age, and Mason is one of the very few people
in the world who gets to access it.
And he doesn't just keep these cars in his
garage and admire them on weekends. He races them. One of his favourite events
is the Mille Miglia — originally run on public roads across Italy from 1927 to
1957, now a celebrated rally covering over 1,000 miles through the Italian
countryside. Mason has competed multiple times, bringing his most valuable
machines to tackle mountain passes, cobblestone towns, and open highways. The
sight of a $70 million Ferrari GTO threading through a quiet Italian village
with Mason at the wheel says everything about what a real car enthusiast looks
like. He's also raced at the Le Mans Classic on the actual Circuit de la Sarthe
in France — the same track that hosts the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Competing in these events means keeping cars in genuine running condition, not
preserved like artefacts. It takes serious preparation and serious commitment.
Mason has earned deep respect in the motorsport world not because of what he
owns, but because of what he does with it.
While his heart clearly belongs to the pre-war
and classic racing eras, the collection isn't entirely stuck in the past. The
McLaren F1 GTR is his most modern piece, and one of the most significant cars
of the 1990s. Designed by Gordon Murray, the F1 was the fastest production car
in the world when it launched in 1992 — central driving position, a naturally
aspirated BMW V12 producing 627 horsepower, and an obsessive commitment to low
weight above everything else. Mason's GTR was built purely for competition,
stripping away even the minimal comforts of the road version. Fewer than 100
McLaren F1s of all types were ever made. The fact that it sits alongside
pre-war Bugattis and 1960s Ferrari racers shows a collection built entirely
around significance, with no interest in filling gaps just for the sake of it.
Putting a firm number on the collection is
nearly impossible since valuations at this level shift constantly with the
market. But conservative estimates put the total somewhere between $50 million
and well over $100 million, with the 1962 Ferrari GTO alone likely accounting
for the biggest single chunk. Comparable GTOs have changed hands privately for
figures that would make government officials uncomfortable. The Bugatti Type
35, the Ferrari 312P, and the McLaren F1 GTR all carry eight-figure valuations
in today's collector market. What's remarkable is that Mason has never appeared
remotely motivated by those numbers. He talks about the driving, the history,
the community of people who care about these machines the same way he does. He
has sold cars over the years when the moment felt right, but the core of what
he's built has remained intact across decades — which is a rare kind of
commitment even among the world's wealthiest collectors.
Perhaps the most telling thing about Nick Mason
is his philosophy. Some collectors seal their cars under climate-controlled
conditions and never touch them again, treating them as investments wrapped in
paint. Mason has always believed that these machines exist to be used,
experienced, and kept alive. He wrote a book on his Ferrari collection. He has
been a consistent, vocal advocate for keeping historic cars in active running
condition rather than turning them into untouchable museum pieces. When you own
a car with the kind of racing heritage these have, he believes you take on a
duty to that heritage. His cars are maintained to the very highest standards —
but the whole point is that a car sitting permanently in a box is not truly
alive. Nick Mason understands, more than almost anyone else at his level, that
the soul of a racing car lives in motion. And that is ultimately what makes
this collection not just one of the most valuable in the world, but one of the
most meaningful.
That's the story of Nick Mason's $100 million
car collection. Not a trophy room. Not a portfolio. A living, breathing, racing
testament to what happens when someone spends a lifetime genuinely loving what
they own. From a 1920s Bugatti that won Grand Prix races before most of our
grandparents were born, to a McLaren supercar that rewrote the rules of
performance in the nineties, every single machine in that garage earned its
place. And the fact that Mason still gets behind the wheel and races them — at
any age, in any conditions — is one of the most refreshing stories in the
entire world of car collecting. If you enjoyed this video, hit like and
subscribe. There's a lot more coming on the greatest car collections in the
world, and you do not want to miss what's next.
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