Pebble Beach Monterey Car Week: Most expensive cars sold

The $30 million Ferrari led the trophy cars sold during last week’s Monterey Car Week, even as the classic car market showed signs of further slowing.

Five auctions in Monterey and Pebble Beach sold more than 1,200 vehicles for a total of $397 million, the second-highest total for any auction, according to classic car insurer Hagerty Forehead.

However, sales were down 16% from last year’s record $473 million in sales. Combined with a string of high-profile disappointments on the auction floor, the results suggest that inflation, rising interest rates and price volatility in financial markets are putting the brakes on the classic car market.

“The cooling in the market that we’ve observed over the past 15 months had little impact last year, but ultimately it did affect the Monterey auctions,” Haggerty said in a report. “Increasing discipline at the high end, Demand from new collectors has weakened, while rising prices have discouraged buyers at the high end of the market.”

Classic cars are among the worst-performing collectible assets in 2023, according to a new report from Knight Frank. Art values ​​have fallen 7% so far this year, according to Knight Frank, while art values ​​have risen 12%. Jewelry and watches also increased in value.

The rise of online auction sites has increased the pressure on live classic car auctions, becoming a popular alternative to sales events like Monterey. Sales on online auction forum Bring a Trailer will reach $841 million in the first half of 2023, according to the company. Online collector car auctions totaled about $1.9 billion last year, slightly less than the $2.4 billion in live auctions, Haggerty said.

The most important sign of weakness at Monterey Car Week was the “sell-through rate,” or the percentage of cars sold at the reserve or lowest bid. This year’s sell-through rate fell to 68 percent from 78 percent last year, meaning nearly a third of auctioned cars failed to sell for the lowest price.

The most notable failure at auction was a 1964 Ferrari 250 LM sold by RM Sotheby’s. The car is expected to sell for between $18 million and $20 million. But the top bid only reached $17 million, below the reserve price.

A 1960 Ferrari California Spyder also failed to sell at auction, with the highest bid reaching $8.25 million. RM Sotheby’s said the car was later sold in a private sale following the auction. The auction house did not disclose the price.

The most expensive car also fell below the expected range. Bonhams sold a 1967 Ferrari 412P for $30.25 million, making it the fourth most expensive Ferrari ever. However, “whisper figures” or expectations were in excess of $40 million, and there were very few bids for the car.

“The top of the market has proven resilient until recently, as evidenced by the slowdown in prices of Ferrari prototypes from the 1960s onwards,” Haggerty said.

Some experts say Monterey and the overall classic car market could suffer from an oversupply. Older collectors, especially baby boomers, are starting to sell entire collections as they get older, and it’s not clear whether a new wave of younger collectors has the same interest in similar classics, or if they Whether you prefer modern cars from the 1990s and 2000s.

Classic car intelligence firm K500 said “as expected, there were too many cars, auctions and venues”.

Here are the three most expensive cars sold and what they are used for.

this 412P A road or ‘customer’ version of Ferrari’s famous 330 P3 and P4 race cars. Only two 412P Berlinettas were initially produced, and Ferrari converted two other 330 P3s into 412Ps. The car was the second of the original 412P models to roll off the assembly line and competed at the highest level.

this Shinco SS The Jaguar, which dropped out of racing after the 1956 season, was essentially a modified race car. The company decided to convert its D-Type race car into a customer road car, adding passenger doors and weather protection. Jaguar only produced 25 of them. Nine of them were destroyed by a factory fire and only 16 remain, making them one of the ultimate trophies in the world of classic cars.

this 250 GT SWB Berliner Inner Tower Wins at Le Mans and Sebring and many other races across Europe. Between 1960 and 1963, Ferrari produced just 165 SWB Berlinettas. Gooding said the car was in “very pristine condition” as it had never been restored. It’s very rare to find a Ferrari in such good condition without major restoration, which adds to its value.