Original Article – Car & Driver
August 18, 2015by Rusty Blackwell | Photography by Gooding & Company, Mecum Auctions, RM Auctions
There was plenty of money being waved around in Monterey, California, last week, particularly on the various auction blocks around the Peninsula. We shared lists and photos of the top 10 sales from each of the four days of auctions, and now we’ve gathered the top 25 from the entire weekend, which includes two new additions—a Porsche RS60 racing car and a Ferrari California Spider that were each sold post-block following no-sales during the live bidding.
According to Hagerty Insurance, which had employees in the crowd at each of the live auctions, at least 805 cars were sold for a total of more than $400 million. RM Sotheby’s brokered the most—$172.7 million with 126 cars. Gooding & Company edged out RM with a median sale price of $440,000, versus RM’s $420,750. Mecum Auctions moved the highest volume of cars, 335, but that was only 51 percent of the lots it offered. Bonhams had the highest sell-through rate, at 88 percent. Russo and Steele as well as newcomer JR-Auctions proffered more affordable cars, to the tune of $38,500 and $26,950 median sale prices. Rick Cole Auctions, which had cars (including this 1969 L88 Corvette) on display in Monterey but utilized online-only bidding, has yet to report its results to Hagerty.
Without further ado, these are the 25 priciest cars sold at auction in Monterey this year:
24 (tie). 1970 Plymouth Hemi ’Cuda convertible, sold for $2,475,000 (Mecum)
This was the factory demo car for John Herlitz, the man who designed the E-body Barracuda’s classic lines. It’s just about fully loaded, with the 426 Hemi, Torqueflite automatic, Shaker hood, Rim Blow steering wheel, and more.
24 (tie). 1971 Lamborghini Miura P400 SV, sold for $2,475,000 (RM Sotheby’s)
Particularly in top-tier SV form, this Lambo very nicely wears a color scheme traditionally seen on Ferraris.
23. 1969 Lamborghini Miura P400 S, sold for $2,530,000 (Mecum)
A Miura sold on Day 1 for a similar price. This beauty is “mostly unrestored,” wears dazzling original paint, and has about 30,000 miles on the odometer.
22. 1971 Ferrari 365GTS/4 Daytona Spider, sold for $2,640,000 (Bonhams)
Along with another real, factory Daytona Spider sold on Thursday, this car helps nail down the current value of these rare, highly sought-after Ferraris. Bonhams points out that the late C/D columnist L.J.K. Setright once noted that the Daytona “has been called the last great front-engined supercar.” No arguments here.
21. 1972 Ferrari 365GTS/4 Daytona Spider, sold for $2,750,000 (RM Sotheby’s)
Ferrari built only 121 Daytona Spiders (although many others have been created, possibly with the help of a Sawzall or two), and this is one of them. This matching-numbers beauty has air conditioning and a 4.4-liter V-12.
This big-engined Ferrari has a 5.0-liter V-12 that was said to be good for a top speed of 170 mph. Naturally, the original owner was Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, “a gentleman of incomparable wealth, taste, and influence,” according to Gooding.
18 (tie). 1994 Ferrari F40 LM, sold for $3,300,000 (RM Sotheby’s)
The F40 was fast, but the lighter, more-powerful LM edition was even more special. This car, one of just 19 produced, has a 720-hp 2.9-liter twin-turbo V-8.
18 (tie). 1967 Ferrari 275GTB/4, sold for $3,300,000 (RM Sotheby’s)
Not red in the least—and all the more beautiful for it—this matching-numbers restoration has a 3.3-liter V-12 that we’d never tire of hearing sing.
We’d have a hard time arguing with Gooding’s statements that this rare Packard body style resulted in “arguably the most attractive closed automobiles of the prewar era” and that this is “arguably the most beautiful classic-era Packard.” If you still had money during the Depression, you flaunted it, and this now-restored, Dietrich-bodied sedan remains among the classiest ways to show off your wealth in the 21st century. 16. 1967 Ferrari 275GTB/4, sold for $3,877,500 (Gooding)
Famed Ferrari dealer Luigi Chinetti took a Lamborghini Miura and a Maserati Ghibli on trade-in from this car’s original owner. This unrestored coupe took second-in-class at Pebble Beach in 2013 in the Postwar Preservation class.
15. 1966 Ferrari 275GTB/6C Alloy, sold for $3,960,000 (RM Sotheby’s)
This voluptuous Ferrari has many desirable features, including “long-nose” aluminum bodywork, a torque tube, and six Weber carburetors, which feed a 3.3-liter V-12. A California car from new, it retains its original paperwork, tools, and jack.
14. 1931 Bentley 4 1/2-Litre Two-Seater Sports, sold for $4,015,000 (RM Sotheby’s)
Only 50 “Blower Bentleys” were built, and this one still has its original chassis, engine, supercharger, and gearbox. The engine was overhauled in 2012 at a reported cost of $150,000.
Clearly Shah Reza Pahlavi of Iran had very good taste, because he was the first owner of this gorgeous Grigio Metallizzato over red coupe. According to Gooding, he and his wife, Princess Soraya, “developed a love for Ferraris” when they “were exiled to Italy in 1954.” Soon after, they collected the car from Enzo Ferrari himself; she got the car in a divorce and kept it for about a decade. Since the mid-1970s, it has graced concours d’élégance all over America. 12. 1960 Porsche RS60, sold for $5,400,000 (Gooding)
This car didn’t sell on the auction block (and thus wasn’t in any of our daily recaps), but Gooding has since found it a happy new owner. This Spyder’s first job was as a works racing car, and it was piloted by the likes of Jo Bonnier, Dan Gurney, Hans Herrmann, Graham Hill, Bob Holbert, and Stirling Moss at tracks such as Le Mans, Sebring, the Nürburgring, Nassau, and Mosport. (Talk about provenance!) While leading the 1961 Targa Florio with Moss behind the wheel, this magnificent mid-engine Porsche’s differential seized on the last lap, foiling a near-certain victory. Nonetheless, its significance is undisputed.
11. 2005 Ferrari Enzo, sold for $6,050,000 (RM Sotheby’s)
The final Enzo produced, this car was originally given to Pope John Paul II. His Holiness respectfully declined the gift and asked that it be sold for charity. He died a few months later, but the proceeds were given to his successor, Pope Benedict XVI.
10. 1950 Ferrari 275 S/340 America Barchetta, sold for $7,975,000 (RM Sotheby’s)
Alberto Ascari piloted this beauty in the 1950 Mille Miglia, where it DNF’d due to axle failure. Later in its life, the car was a needy Vermont barn find that a teenager rescued, purchased for $500, and drove under the power of its original 4.1-liter “Lampredi” V-12 for more than 100,000 miles over his four decades of ownership.
9. 1959 Ferrari 250GT California LWB Spider (open headlight), sold for $8,500,000 (RM Sotheby’s)
RM was able to arrange a sale of this dazzling Ferrari after it crossed the stage as a no-sale on Thursday. A Bolognese prince bought this car new but soon sold it to Wolfgang Seidel, a German racing driver whose résumé includes a dozen Formula 1 starts. Over the decades, this Ferrari has also lived in California, Arizona, Illinois, New York, and Sweden. It was restored in Italy circa 2001, retains all of its important original components, and features uncommon Superamerica-style fender vents and velocity stacks.
8. 1959 Ferrari 250GT Interim, sold for $8,525,000 (Bonhams)
Ferrari 250GTs are some of the more desirable cars in history, and this example was a successful racing car for privateers in its early days, including wins at Montlhéry, Lime Rock, and Watkins Glen. Plus it looks striking as all hell.
As a Porsche works racer, this marvel took overall victories at Le Mans, Spa, Fuji, Brands Hatch, and Kyalami in the hands of drivers Jacky Ickx, Jochen Mass, Derek Bell, Al Holbert, Hurley Haywood, and Vern Schuppan. Need we say more?
5 (tie). 1956 Ferrari 250GT Berlinetta Competizione “Tour de France,” sold for $13,200,000 (RM Sotheby’s)
First owned by Marquis Alfonso de Portago, who piloted the car to victories in the grueling Tour de France Auto in 1956. This is the first of the famous TdF Ferraris, and it has earned best-in-class awards at various concours. It’s not hard to see why.
5 (tie). 1953 Jaguar C-type lightweight roadster, sold for $13,200,000 (RM Sotheby’s)
The auction house makes no exaggerations in calling this “one of the most important Jaguars ever.” One of the final (of very few) Jaguar C-type racing cars ever built, this car is one of only three “lightweights” campaigned by the factory at Le Mans in 1953; it finished fourth overall in that race and went on to win eight races for Ecurie Ecosse in 1954.
4. 1998 McLaren F1, sold for $13,750,000 (RM Sotheby’s)
It started out life as a “standard” F1, but the factory later upgraded this car to LM specifications. As such, it has a 680-hp 6.1-liter V-12 but retains its roadgoing amenities.
Nuccio Bertone, head of Carrozzeria Bertone, was this car’s first owner; he co-designed it with a young Giorgetto Giugiaro. This sultry one-off was shown at Geneva and Turin when new and was featured at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Élégance in 1982, 1997, and 2003. 2. 1961 Ferrari 250GT California SWB Spider (closed headlight), sold for $16,830,000 (Gooding)
The fact that this car was originally painted metallic blue and had a red leather interior—a charming change of pace in the red-over-tan sea of Ferrari-dom—doesn’t seem to have hurt its value, although Gooding’s description of the car more or less encourages the next owner to return it to its original colors. (Naturally, it was painted resale red by a car dealer in New York in the late 1960s, pretty much as soon as it was brought over to the States and traded in on a new Jaguar E-type.) In any case, California Spiders are among the most desirable cars on the planet, and this example’s closed headlights and short wheelbase add to the appeal.
1. 1964 Ferrari 250LM, sold for $17,600,000 (RM Sotheby’s)
One of 32 built from a batch of one of history’s favorite Ferraris, this car has extensive (small-time) racing history and is mechanically all original, down to its 320-hp 3.3-liter V-12 and five-speed manual.
