There are always two main avenues of news from Monterey Car Week: the results from the Pebble Beach Concours d’ Elegance and, of course, the results from the major collector-car auctions. There were surprises from both this year. The judges at Pebble Beach awarded top honors to a 1934 Bugatti Type 59 Sports, making it […]
What better prelude to the 72nd Pebble Beach Concours d’ Elegance® than to buy a car (or few cars) from the auctions held in conjunction with this pinnacle event? If you’re bidding or selling, the action is at the auctions, of course. We’ve assembled the auction itinerary here and selected some highlights from the Bonhams, Broad Arrow, Gooding & Company, Mecum, and RM Sotheby’s sales.
The spark that launched Porsche’s road racing dynasty began with the “Fuhrman engine” in the landmark 550 Spyder racecar. Bringing that engine to the 356’s option list in 1956 and calling it “Carrera” boosted Porsche’s racing pedigree while also setting the foundation for special high-performance Porsche models to come. The expensive and complex Carrera engine was rarely ordered when new, and cars so-equipped demand a huge premium in the collector car market today. A 1956 Porsche 356A Speedster Carrera offered by Mecum Auctions in Monterey is expected to sell for up to $1.2M, or nearly 400% more than a Speedster without it.
If you paid $1.32 million for a 2018 Ford GT Heritage Edition with only 7 miles on the odometer, would you drive that car? That was just one of the very low-mileage dream cars that sold at Mecum’s live auction in Kissimmee, Florida. Mecum’s total sales of $217 million (with a 90% sell-through rate) marks the first collector car auction to surpass $200 million for a single event. Read about the top selling cars.