While Australian auction sites during the early part of August were hard pressed to sell a car for more than $100,000, the might of Monterey Car Week in California saw two lots exceeding US$25 million and a combined sales total topping US$440 million.
Five of the classic vehicle market’s most prominent auction houses – Mecum, Broad Arrow, Gooding Christie’s, Bonhams, and RM Sotheby’s – combined to promote glittering events in association with Monterey Car Week and collectively offer more than 1000 lots.
Mecum opens proceedings with sub-$50,000 cars, motorcycles and… Dragster bicycles
First to raise a gavel was Mecum, which on August 14 commenced with a selection of sub-$50,000 cars and motorcycles. Also included in this sale was a collection of Dragster-style bicycles from the 1970s, some of which sold for US$6000.
Spending $50k (plus your Buyer Premium) at the Mecum sale delivered a range of mostly US-made classic and muscle era machinery headed by Pontiac GTOs, Corvettes and big-block Ford Mustangs. A buyer with US$101,000 available set what is possibly a record price for a Standard Steel Rolls Royce Silver Cloud 3; a scarce survivor from the 1067 SC3s that were built in left-hand drive.
Top confirmed price at the Mecum sale was US$1.98 million for a Lamborghini Miura, one of two being sold across the week, but there was some confusion concerning the status of an even more valuable Mecum listing.
This was an ultra-scarce 1967 Corvette L88, one of just 20 built in 1967 sale and the only one in Rally Red. It appeared to have been knocked down to a US$2.6 million bid but then next day reappeared on Mecum’s unsold list.
Rare Ferrari wins spirited battle for the highest lot
Selling the highest value lot during Car Week is a prestigious achievement and this year the difference between top spot and runner up came down to a mere US$695,000.
Gooding Christie’s and RM Sotheby’s contenders for top spot both wore Ferrari emblems but were very different cars from quite disparate eras.
Built in 1961, the Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Competizione Alloy Spider, offered by Gooding Christie’s was delivered new with its distinctive hardtop and raced for a short time in Germany before being sold to the USA where it would be restored and repainted.
With the hardtop, faired headlamps and full complement of competition equipment it is one of just two alloy-bodied Spiders to be built for competition. It now holds the title of most expensive California Spider ever sold.
Gooding Christie’s unleashes a festival of Ferraris
Gooding Christie’s five top sales were all Ferraris, with a total value of US$49.365 million. In sixth place on the list came a rare US-delivered Jaguar C-Type that seems to have avoided any serious competition use and was sold to a bid of US$3.635 million.
Also notable on the star-studded Gooding Christie list was a Tucker 48, released from the Francis Ford Coppola collection and which had been used in his 1988 film Tucker: the Man and His Dreams. It was finished in Waltz Blue Metallic and sold at US$1.545 million.
Maserati MC12 Stradale the star attraction at Broad Arrow Auctions
Broad Arrow Auctions centred its Monterey pre-sale promotions on one very significant Maserati and would have been disappointed had this spectacular car not achieved its predicted US$5 million price.
The car was a Maserati MC12 Stradale; one of 50 built to homologate the model for GT1 racing. Top speed of road-going versions was 205mph (330km/h), with the race-spec Versione Corsa even faster.
As predicted, the car did achieve a hammer price of US$5.2 million; significantly ahead of Broad Arrow’s second most costly lot – a 2008 Koenigsegg CCXR Targa that reached US$3.22 million.
In common with Mecum, Broad Arrow fleshed out its catalogue with classics which offered bidders at the lower end of Monterey’s market the opportunity to secure a special car for well below a million dollars.
Japanese cars might be barely visible on the streets of Monterey during Car Week, but Broad Arrow’s ticket included two highly collectible JDM escapees. The closing lot on Day One of its sale was a scarce STi 22B version of the Subaru Impreza WRX which was sold unreserved in Monterey and made a healthy US$235,200.
A day later, though, came a Toyota Supra RZ Twin Turbo – unremarkable in stark white with 63,000 kilometres and the final lot of the entire auction – which exceeded pre-sale estimates of between US$40-70k to be knocked down at a final US$80,640.
Bonhams bets big on hypercars
Smallest of the Monterey listings came from Bonhams, which fielded 91 lots and sold 87 of them for a remarkable 96 percent clearance rate.
That said, the top seven spots on Bonhams’ sold ticket went to cars so exotic they would perhaps only ever be seen at a Hypercar exhibition or very exclusive auction.
Topping the list was a trio of Bugattis, headed by the US$8.55 million Divo coupe. With four turbochargers and 1130kW these are the most powerful Bugatti ever produced, and this car was one of just 10 in the world. Next in line was a 2023 Bugatti Chiron Super Sport which reached US$4.46 million and a Chiron Pur Sport at US$3.965 million.
Taking eighth spot on Bonhams’ list was a hypercar of a different kind: a factory spec Audi Quattro Sport used sparingly by Finnish ace Hannu Mikkola during the 1985 World Rally season and sold for $1.765 million. That was around three times the money achieved by RM Sotheby’s for a road-going Sport.
RM Sotheby’s sparks fierce bidding duel for one-off Ferrari
This was the 28th Monterey Car Week to host an RM Sotheby’s auction, which for 2025 featured 170 lots. They would range in value from US$20,000 for motorised kiddie cars to the one-off Ferrari that found a buyer at US$26 million.
The Daytona SP3 came directly from Ferrari’s own collection, with all proceeds from the sale going to the Ferrari Foundation. The SP3 was the third in Ferrari’s ‘Icona’ series of tributes to the company’s sports/racing cars of the 1950s-60s, this one echoing the Le Mans winning 330 P4.
Helping maximise the hammer price, RM Sotheby’s waived its Buyer Premium on the car to deliver maximum benefit to the Foundation and its research into spinal cord and neurological disorders. From a starting point of US$10 million and after a fearsome bidding duel with several participants, the car was knocked down at US$26 million to a prominent Ferrari collector.
Less costly than the SP3 but considerably more exclusive was one of the just 14 F40 LMs dating from 1989. Most powerful of all the F40s, with 515kW from its 2.9-litre twin turbocharged V8 engine, it rushed from a US$5 million starting bid to quickly reach the US$8.5 million reserve price and achieve a sale at US$10 million.
Early on Day One of the RM Sotheby’s sale came a sequence of 10 Alfa Romeos from the Quadrifoglio Collection. These cars, all in red, were headlined by one of 10 surviving Tipo 33 Daytona Coupes which with spirited bidding sold for US$1.16 million. That was double the price of the next best, a US$555,000 TZ-1 coupe.
Other notable Day One sales included a tidy Mercedes-Benz 300S at US$285,000, a very early Jaguar E-Type at US$295,000 and one-owner, 6500-kilometre BMW M1 that made US$565,000.
Next up, Ralph Lauren’s personal Ferrari F50
Day Two of the RM Sotheby’s sale was again dominated by Ferrari Fever, but while waiting for the arrival of the mega-million-dollar cars there was time for the auctioneer to take US$580,000 for a rare road-spec Audi Quattro Sport and US$740,000 on an all-black Aston Martin DB5.
First of the Ferraris was a 7800-mile 512TR which made US$700,000 and almost immediately was eclipsed by an F512 M at US$912,500.
Then taking bidders into the millions was a near-new La Ferrari, which showed just 54 miles on the clock and climbed past its US$4.3 million estimate to sell at US$4.75 million.
Another on the list to exceed expectations was Ralph Lauren’s personal 1995 Ferrari F50 which began at US$5 million, and exceeded its top estimate of US$7.5 million to would sell at US$8.4 million.
Porsches aplenty, along with some of RUF’s finest
Those in the market for a Porsche of some significance would have enjoyed plenty of choice with several RM Sotheby’s cars in the US$1-4 million price range. Topping these listings with a hammer price of US$4,295,000 was a 1989 RUF CTR1 Lightweight, produced for the personal use of company principal Alois Ruf.
It had been preceded in the sale by a 2021 build RUF Anniversary, one of 50 produced and showing under 200 miles, which sold at US$3,050,000. Later, a 718 Spider that had travelled just 400 miles in 10 years would top US$2.4 million.
Not all of RM Sotheby’s’ desirable offerings found new owners during the Monterey sale, among them the second Lamborghini Miura offered during Car Week that at $1.8 million didn’t reach its reserve.
Initially short of its ground at US$4.85 million against a US$5.5 million reserve was a 1935 Mercedes-Benz 500K Roadster in eye-watering red. It was referred on fall of the hammer but when sale results were published on the following Monday by industry analysts Hagerty the car was showing as Sold at US$5.35 million.
Crickets provide the soundtrack here in ’Straya
Back in Australia (remember us?) some interesting cars were offered via the online sites and a few sales achieved. Locals to find new homes included a rare Audi S2 coupe via Collecting Cars at A$40,250 and a BMW Z3 M which topped $100,000 also on the same site.
Interesting no-sales were Collecting Cars’ A$117,000 Mazda R100 and, from Trading Garage, a rare Lancia Flavia Zagato coupe at a top offer of A$60,500.
During coming weeks, the local market will become frantic with live or timed sales being conducted by Lloyds, Chicane and Burns & Co.
Previews from each company’s listing show a range of interesting models that hopefully will spark a Springtime market revival after a cold and quiet Winter.
Please note: All figures quoted are Hammer Prices and do not include any applicable Buyer Premium.
