The Super Bowl of super-rich car collecting kicks off in Monterey, Ca. this week as more than $300 million worth of rolling trophies comes up for auction.
After an unexpected surge in classic-car sales and prices during the pandemic, Monterey Car Week and the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance marks the biggest test of demand for the most expensive classic cars. Lingering health concerns over COVID and a lack of international buyers will also cast a shadow over an event that typically gathers tens of thousands of wealthy car fans to attend parties, launch events, races and auctions.
So far, however, sales and auctions are shaping up to be some of the strongest on record.
“There is huge pent-up demand,” said McKeel Hagerty, CEO of Hagerty, the classic-car insurance and collector-services company. “This week could be extraordinary.”
Over 1,000 vehicles are expected to come up for auction this week, according to Hagerty. Total sales are expected to reach $325 million — up 28% over 2019, the most recent year of sales after the event was canceled last year due to Covid. Monterey is known for having the most prized and expensive cars, and this year at least 115 cars are expected to fetch $1 million or more.
All the major car-auction companies — from Gooding & Co., to RM Sotheby’s, Mecum and Bonhams — save some of their best collections and most prized cars for the ultra-wealthy Monterey crowd. Mecum this year has “The Big Al Collection,” a fleet of more than 80 cars that includes everything from Corvettes and Camaros to a seven-figure LaFerrari and rare Porsches.
Mecum CEO Dave Magers said the company is seeing the strongest demand in its history, with much of it coming from new collectors who started learning about classic cars online during the pandemic and are now bidding online. Mecum’s sell-through rate, or the percentage of cars coming up for auction that actually sell, is running about about 85% this year — much higher than historical averages.
“When the sell-through rate goes up, prices go up,” he said. “Everything is lifted.”
Gooding will be selling the collection of the late rock-star Neil Peart, the famed drummer and lyricist for the band Rush. The collection includes a 1964 Aston Martin DB5 (of James Bond fame) expected to fetch up to $725,000, a 1964 Shelby Cobra 289 expected to top $1 million and a 1970 Lamborghini Miura that could sell for $1.5 million.
“The buyers right now don’t hesitate,” said Gooding CEO David Gooding. “If they want something, they go for it. It’s an attitude of ‘things are uncertain, I’m not going to wait.’”
Here are the top five cars by estimated sale price coming up for auction this week, according to Hagerty.
Gooding & Co. estimate is $21.5 million.
Jay Leno once called the McLaren F1 the best four-wheeled investment he ever made. McLaren only built 106 F1s, and they originally retailed for under $900,000. Now, F1s often trade for over $20 million. Known as the “Formula 1 car for the road,” the F1 is often credited with re-launching the McLaren sports-car brand and ushering in the modern super-car era, with highly specialized cars designed to dominate on the track and on the road, with a top-speed of 240 mph.
The F1 being sold by Gooding is especially prized because it only has less than 250 miles on it, making it what many call a “one-off time-capsule” car. Painted in a striking “Creighton Brown,” it has been kept and meticulously maintained by a Japanese collector since it’s purchase. “This is fresh to the market, never-before seen,” Gooding said.
RM Sotheby’s estimate is $15 million.
The Porsche 917 K was a legend in racing, and the car being sold by RM Sotheby’s has special star-power as the winning car in the Steve McQueen’s classic film “LeMans.” It was rebuilt at the Porsche factory in 1971 and continued to race for another 2 years on the track and for the next two decades at historic events.
A different Porsche 917 K that also appeared in “Le Mans” was sold by Gooding at Pebble Beach in 2017 for $14 million.
