Photo credit: Bonhams, Broad Arrow Auctions, Gooding, Mecum, RM Sotheby’s
Before we talk about the most interesting models of the event, let’s take look at some numbers to understand what Monterrey week means for the international classic car market.
In 1997, the Monterey Week auctions (it wasn’t called that at the time) registered total takings of $14,030,000. Five years later, in 2002, that total rose to $35 million, which at the time seemed like a colossal number. Then, in 2007, the amount jumped to almost $135,000.000 and just one month later, Lehman Brothers closed its doors for good and the global economy took a dramatic turn for the worse. Fast forward five years to 2012 and a new record was set: $257,538,325 which rose to $330 million in 2017. Truly spectacular results, despite the odd adjustment here and there.
We’re now in 2022. The market is decidedly bullish and with each sale many cars are setting new records, forcing quotations to be revised quarter after quarter just to keep up with them. Have we reached the peak? Is the market about to decline? Or is just the beginning of the growth? Let’s try to figure it out by looking through several lenses at the start of the world’s most important auction week, featuring five auction houses and a global estimate of the cars on offer of $562,390,000. Need any more information to put this into perspective? Here you go: in 2002, just six cars were sold for over one million dollars, now they plan to sell 149!
I will start with Bonhams, but only because it was the first to arrive at Monterey Week back in 1998. A car worth following is the most expensive car in its catalogue: a Jaguar E-Type Lightweight Competition from 1963. Once owned and raced by the giant of US motorsport, Briggs Cunningham, it has a perfect and impeccable history, including a participation in Le Mans in 1963. The price of these cars took off in 2017 from a record $1.4 million to $7,370,000. The example on offer this year, sold after the auction in 2017 for eight million will be a nice test for the market. Bets are open.
The price is considerably less but the enthusiasm is just as high: we are talking about a Japanese youngtimer, a theme that is all the rage today. The 1999 Acura NSX Zanardi Edition, just 51 units produced, this one having just two owners who put 17,400 miles on the clock. The record for a physical auction NSX is currently $154,000 – set in March – but online, Bring a Trailer sold a Zanardi Edition (with 12,000 miles to its credit) for $277,017. House experts estimate it at $240,000-$280,000. Will it break the record?
Let’s move on to RM Sotheby’s. Until last year, RM held the record for the auction with the highest turnover ever, set in 2016 at $159 million. But 2022 began with fireworks: first Mecum reached $201 million (216 including automobilia and motorcycles) and then Barrett-Jackson went home with over $200. Rob Meyers (RM) wants to swim in the same waters and is fielding cars worth an estimated $250 million. We’ll have to wait and see.
The business card is the Ferrari 410 Sport from 1955: the official Scuderia car with Juan Manuel Fangio, Phil Hill, Eugenio Castellotti, Masten Gregory and Richie Ginther behind the wheel, but it was also a springboard for Carroll Shelby. The estimate of $25m-$30m is colossal and without any recent references. The last one came onto the market in 2001. It is not only important for its asking price but also because in the previous edition, the great Ferraris from the 50s did not shine. Surely a lot to follow offer by offer.
With a lower budget, one worth keeping an eye on is the Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster. The model offered by RM is from 1963, so it features disc brakes and an aluminium engine block but it does not come from the last week of production – something that makes them even more valuable. Since it was restored by Kienle in 2016 at a cost of €430,000, it has covered only 300 km. The last example was one from the last week of production which changed hands for $3,080,000. This is two steps below with an estimate of $2m-$2.5m. Keep your eye on her.
David Gooding is the official home of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.
Of the 40 cars offered for more than one million dollars, the one that could make the most noise is the 1995 Ferrari F50. It is one of the 55 produced for the American market and once belonged to Mike Tyson (do you think he treated it delicately?). This model was sold in 2017 for $2.64 million (estimate $2.2m-$2.4m), but the market has gone crazy in the last year: each new model offered sets a new record: in 2021 one with 5,000 miles on the clock changed hands for $3,965,000, while in March this year another with 1,318 km to its credit and just one owner from new set the current record of €4.16 million. Gooding’s has 6,200 miles on the clock, Ferrari Classiche certification, and an estimate of $4.5m-$5.5m. Where will it go?
Below the million threshold, one to put on the radar is the 2006 Ford GT Heritage Edition. Here too the market has been in a sort of frenzy of late. Had we been to Pebble Beach 2021 we would have pointed out that the record stands at $605,000 only to be amazed in January 2022 when one with 2,147 miles on the clock sold for $704,000 and one with just 24 miles – basically new – went for $797,500 . Why has Gooding estimated this one with 116 miles on the clock for $575,000-$650,000?
Mecum will bring almost 600 lots to the platform, making it virtually impossible to choose just two: let’s start with the Porsche 911 Carrera 2.7 RS from 1973, a benchmark for an entire sector. Once the property of Paul Walker, the legendary co-star of the Fast& Furious franchise, it is a Touring version – therefore heavier, less high performance and much more common. The $1m-$1,250,000 estimate would set a new record. Useful to know.
The renewed interest in pre-war cars would appear to favour the 1935 Auburn 851SC Boattail Speedster. Estimated at $750,000-$850,000, it is however unlikely to reach the $1,072,500 record set a couple of years ago. But its price will be an attractive index for the pre-war period.
Debuting at the Monterey Jet Center, the Broad Arrow Group. will host the Reimagined Hagerty Motorlux Event. The new auction house, made up of specialists from RM supported by the insurance giant Hagerty has serious ambitions. Among the many fascinating cars on offer, we chose the 1969 Lamborghini Miura S and the Lexus LFA Nürburgring Edition
The Miura S is a true icon. Very discreet in silver and estimated at $1.6m-$1.9m but it does not come close to last year’s record of $2,095,000. Part of a strategy? Hard to say.
Similar estimate: $1.6m-$2m plus one of the hottest models of the year: a Lexus LFA Nürburgring Edition, one owner and 1,200 miles since new. To put this into perspective: in 2019 an example with 2,000 miles on the clock sold for $912,500. In 2021, another with 918 miles, went all the way up to $1.6m. Do they have a new record in their sights? For Broad Arrow, a record on their debut is an achievable dream.
