Fascinating reason why world's most expensive car built by Boeing for $281,000,000 can only go 8mph

When you're splashing $281 million on a car, you might expect it to be some sort of super-speedy Bugatti Veyron or Koenigsegg Agera RS.

Alas, all that money might not get you much under the hood, with the world's most expensive car apparently only being able to go at eight miles per hour.

Whether it's covering a Cybertruck with 24K gold or tracking down the rarest Tesla on Earth, it's easy to splash the cash on expensive cars.

Not everyone has a spare $31 million to buy a bespoke Rolls-Royce, but if you want to really push the boat out, how about handing over $281 million to Boeing for the most expensive car ever made?

While you might typically associate Boeing with airplanes back in the day, it's now one of the biggest aerospace manufacturers in the world as it helps create everything from satellites to rockets.

It's also Boeing that has the current contract to overhaul Air Force One, but taking the skies a little higher, it's known for building the world's most expensive car.

Three of the LRVs remain up on the Moon (Heritage Images / Contributor / Getty)

As reported by Supercar Blondie, Boeing constructed the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) in the 1970s and used it on the last three missions of the American Apollo program. You might remember that Apollo 17 was the last mission to the Moon, with Eugene Cernan being the last person to step foot on it in 1972.

Known better as the Moon Buggy, only four LRVs were ever constructed, with the most expensive costing $38 million back in the day.

Taking inflation into account, that's a jaw-dropping $281 million in today's money. Impressively, it's technically done 238,855 miles because that's the difference between Earth and the Moon.

General Motors and Boeing worked together on creating the LRV, with its design being similar to modern electric vehicles in 2025.

Powered by four independent motors, the Moon Buggy was designed to weigh less than 500 pounds, withstand the reduced gravity in space, and was fitted with bespoke Moon tires.

The Moon Buggy had a top speed of 6 miles per hour, although it did reach a nippy 11.2 miles per hour during the Apollo 17 mission.

Three of the four rovers remain on the Moon, so the upcoming Artemis III mission might be able to find one. The fourth one was used for spare parts for the first three following the cancellation of Apollo 18.

In fact, Cernan's Apollo 17 rover was spotted by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter during its passes in 2009 and 2011. In 2020, the three Moon rovers were designated as historic landmarks, so that's something to look out for if you ever get to go to the Moon.

Supercar Blondie includes the caveat that some don't consider the LRV a car, but as it has four wheels and an engine, it is technically classed as one.

While the price tag of the LRV is indeed impressive, the record of the most expensive car ever sold back on Earth goes to the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe, which fetched an eye-watering $143 million when it was sold at auction in 2022.