Monterey Car Auctions Exceed $400 Million

Darin Schnabel ©2015 Courtesy of RM Sothebys
Annual Auctions by the Sea
Every August the Monterey Motoring Week offers events for all types of automotive enthusiasts, culminating with the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance on Sunday and the second day of the Gooding & Co. auction that same evening. Even with so many high-end car shows occurring in the days leading up to the Concours — including Concorso Italiano and The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering — some of the best cars and the most excitement of the entire week can be found at the numerous auctions, where hundreds of cars and hundreds of millions of dollars change hands.

© Rod Hatfield
Exhaust Notes and High Stakes
On Friday and Saturday nights, the buzz in the air is electric as the RM Sotheby’s auction takes over the Portola Hotel & Spa in downtown Monterey. The exotic exhaust notes echo off the surrounding buildings, announcing the arrival of the next prized offering on the auction block. The current estimated total sales figure for all 2015 Monterey auctions is $400 million according to Hagerty, the world’s largest classic car insurance provider and publisher of the Hagerty Price Guide, but the final number could be even higher once post-auction sales figures have been released.

Darin Schnabel ©2015 Courtesy of RM Sothebys
More Than $400 Million in Sales
Hagerty CEO McKeel Hagerty watches the auctions closely as key indicators of the market. “The preliminary totals are consistent with our projection of $410–415 million, and will likely come close as all numbers are reported in the coming week,” said Hagerty. “The market continues to show strength, but growth is coming at a slower rate compared to the dramatic increases witnessed for the past several years,” he noted.

Copyright and courtesy of Gooding & Company. Photo by Mike Maez.
A Changing Market
Hagerty sees this year’s auction results as indication of changes in the market. “Bidding generally seemed rational, and the dip in prices is a function of slowing momentum and the absence of last year’s Ferrari GTO,” he explained. (Last year a 1962 Ferrari GTO Berlinetta sold at auction for $38 million.) “Prices for special cars are increasing, prices for emerging segments (like 1980-90s cars) are increasing, but elsewhere prices are consistent with what we witnessed during the January auctions,” he noted. What follows is a countdown of the top 10 sellers of the 2015 Monterey auctions.