Jeremy Clarkson bought this Alfa Romeo 75 for $600 in 2008 and now it's worth a small fortune

Jeremy Clarkson once spent around $600 on an Alfa Romeo 75 that’s now expected to sell for five figures.

The Alfa Romeo 75 in question isn’t even in good condition, because it was used for a challenge on TV, and let’s just say, the car’s well-being wasn’t a priority on the show.

Even so, it is now expected to fetch a small fortune, considering how cheap this car used to be.

But there are two good reasons for this.

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The story behind this Alfa Romeo 75

Jeremy Clarkson bought this car for an episode of BBC’s Top Gear back in 2008.

He only paid £450 for it – equivalent to around $600.

The car was involved in a couple of crashes and battered throughout the episode, and it then remained in the hands of the BBC before being sold on to a collector.

The owner made it drivable again – sort of – by replacing the clutch and the gearbox. But they didn’t do anything to the exterior, which still shows all the scars and bruises it suffered during the episode in question.

This 1989 Alfa Romeo 75, fitted with a 3.0-liter engine, has done 51,000 miles (82,000km), but we suspect most of those miles may have been covered before it appeared on Top Gear.

It is expected to fetch anywhere between $16,000 and $20,000.

But to be honest that sounds almost conservative, and we wouldn’t be surprised if it fetched more.

The reason why this car is worth so much

The celebrity factor definitely helps, considering this car was driven by Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear.

But there’s also another reason why this car is worth so much.

Some collectors feel like we’re quickly transitioning to a world where cars are nothing more than replaceable and disposable devices.

Which, for example, would explain why some EVs like the Ford Mustang Mach-E and the Porsche Taycan seem to depreciate much faster than gas equivalents.

Also, as a by-product of this transition, older cars are becoming more valuable, sometimes by simple virtue of being, well, old.

For instance, the most valuable car in the world is a 1955 vehicle.

And the second-most valuable car in the world is a 1962 Ferrari.

In fact, the top 10 list of most valuable cars in the world only includes cars built before the end of the 1960s.

And if you’re absolutely desperate to find a ‘newer’ car, you’ll need to look at the top 20, to the 1995 McLaren F1, which is still a 30-year-old car.

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