The Lamborghini Veneno Roadster is a barely street-legal racer that goes for a cool .$4.5 million

As was the mysterious Maltese Falcon to film noir detective Sam Spade, the costliest cars in the world are indeed, “The stuff dreams are made of.”

With sticker prices that are beyond the reach of all but the wealthiest royals, tycoons, and oligarchs, many of today’s hypercars come from uber-exotic brands not familiar to mere motorists, like Arash, Mazzanti, and Zenvo, with others being the ultimate expression of motoring from more familiar names like Ferrari and Aston Martin. Any of them make garden-variety BMWs and Bentleys seem cheap by comparison.

They’re inarguably rolling works of art, expressively sculpted with unparalleled curb appeal, yet can outperform most anything on four wheels. To be sure, these are no mere touring cars. Each ride on race-ready underpinnings, and pack powerful engines that seal all bragging rights with staggering horsepower ratings that can run – and we do mean run – well in excess of 1,000 galloping ponies. They are the ultimate attention-grabbers.

But with limited production runs that are often spoken for long before the first model is built, they might as well be fabricated from pure “unobtainium.” You’ll likely never so much as see one in person, unless perhaps you’re a doorman at some ultra-swank hotel in Doha, Shanghai, Abu Dhabi, or maybe Beverly Hills. Some, purchased for future appreciation, may rarely, if ever, venture beyond the doors of a storage facility that holds its owner’s extended fleet of precious metal.