• The 27th edition of the Tour Auto Optic 2000 will be held from April 23 to 28, 2018. Every year organizer Peter Auto makes it a point of honor to highlight a manufacturer or a type of car that has been involved in the history of the Tour de France Automobile. For the 27th event, the spotlight will be focused on Italian makes that are no longer produced. Many of them took part in the original event including Autobianchi, De Tomaso and Osca, as well as Cisitalia, Lombardi, Moretti, and Siata. For more information visit www.peterauto.peter.fr
• The Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion and the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance have announced a one-year shift away from their standard third weekend of August dates to accommodate the return of the U.S. Amateur Golf Championship to the links at Pebble Beach. The tournament traditionally wraps on the third Sunday in August, and next year will be its first return to Pebble Beach since 1999. After taking place on the weekend of August 24-26 in 2018, the Concours, Reunion and Gathering will return to the third weekend in August in future years, as the events will be held on August 16-18 in 2019, August 13-16 in 2020 and August 12-15 in 2021.
• Worldwide Auctioneers have confirmed that it will present its inaugural California auction at the start of Monterey Car Week on Thursday, August 17, 2017, making it the first scheduled catalog-format auction of that storied week. The Pacific Grove Auction on the Monterey Peninsula will showcase roughly 70 outstanding automobiles in the spectacular oceanside setting of the historic Pacific Grove Golf Links, adjacent to the famous 17 Mile Drive and centrally positioned at the tip of the Peninsula for both Monterey and Pebble Beach.
• Leake Auction Company celebrated 45 years in the collector car auction business in Tulsa’s River Spirit Expo, June 9-11. When the final hammer dropped on Sunday, total sales were $8.1 million with a 74-percent sell-through. The three-day auction featured 599 lots on two turntables. Top seller of the weekend was a 2006 Ford GT at $305,250 with buyer’s premium.
• Mecum’s first foray into the Nevada spring for a vintage motorcycle auction in Las Vegas was a pronounced success with 339 motorcycles hammering sold June 2-3 for an 80-percent sell-through rate and $4.4 million in overall sales. Highlighted by the $95,000 sale of a gorgeously restored 1950 Vincent Black Shadow, top sales at the auction were strong and showed off the great variety of marques available. Amid that diverse assortment, Indians nevertheless demonstrated their enduring desirability, with five of the top 10 bearing that venerable name. While not necessarily among the top-priced motorcycles at the auction, Harley-Davidsons, Hondas and Triumphs were among the most popular marques to cross the auction block, with an impressively large selection of each on hand.
