The annual Monterey Car Week in the US always attracts the world’s most valuable cars and biggest spenders, and last week’s classic-car auctions didn’t disappoint.
The auctions collectively grossed $400.1m (about R7.55bn), the second-highest total yet after last year’s record $473m (R8.93bn), according to classic car insurance company Hagerty.
More than 1,200 cars sold over five auctions at Monterey and Pebble Beach in California, led by a $30m (R560m) Ferrari sold by Bonhams that became the fifth most valuable car and fourth most valuable Ferrari to go under the hammer to date.
The 1967 Ferrari 412P was a road version of Ferrari’s celebrated 330 P3 and P4 race cars that battled with Ford at Le Mans in the mid sixties, and just four were built. The 412P was powered by a 4.0l V12 engine with six Weber carburettors, producing 313kW at 8,000rpm.
The second-highest total achieved at Monterey last weekend was $13.2m (R249.2m) for a 1957 Jaguar XKSS auctioned by RM Sotheby’s, one of 10 cars that fetched more than $4m (R75.5m). The XKSS was a road-going version of the Jaguar D-Type racing car and only 16 units were built, making it Jaguar’s most sought-after production model, according to Hagerty.
The third most expensive car auctioned at Monterey was an unrestored 1962 Ferrari 250GT SWB Berlinetta which went for $9.4m (R177.3m) at Gooding & Company.
Half the cars in the top 10 were Ferraris, the others being:
- a 1959 Ferrari 410 Superamerica for $6.6m (R124.5m);
- a 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 for $5.4m (R101.8m); and
- a 1995 Ferrari F50 for $4.2m (R79.2m).
Italy’s good auction showing included a 1933 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Cabriolet that commanded $4.5m (R84.8m).
A 1937 Bugatti Type 57 SC Tourer at $5.4m (R101.8m) was the sole French car in the top ten.
There were strong results for American Brass Era cars from Mercer, Lozier and Simplex, establishing new world records in the process, headlined by a 1914 Mercer Type 35-J Raceabout that sold for $4.8m (R90.4m) and a 1912 Simplex 50 HP Toy Tonneau that fetched $4.1m (R77.2m).
Gooding & Company sold 133 lots with an average price per car of $714,736 (R13.5m), with 24 cars fetching more than $1m (R18.8m).
“This year’s Pebble Beach Auctions saw a number of historic cars go to new homes for the first time in many decades, or with the case of the Simplex, for the first time in over an entire century,” said Gooding & Company president and founder David Gooding.
The Simplex has a good story. It was bought in February 1912 by William P Snyder, who drove it onto the Long Island Ferry where he met his future wife, who also happened to be driving a Simplex 50 HP. The couple used this car on their honeymoon and it has been in the same family since new, 111 years ago.
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