A total of 26 cars sold for more than $1 million during Classic Car Week in Monterey, California this August, topped by the world record bid of $7,260,000 for a 1959 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spider Competizione at the Gooding & Co. Pebble Beach sale. Gooding, enjoying a 79 percent sell-through, also took the second and third slots on the dollar-value sales list with record prices of $6,710,000 and $6,105,000, respectively, for a 1933 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza and a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta SEFAC “Hot Rod.”
RM Auctions, which enjoyed a remarkable 95 percent sell-through, claimed fourth and fifth spots on the overall list with a 1954 Ferrari 375 MM Berlinetta going for $4,620,000, and a 1938 Talbot-Lago T150-C Lago Speciale Teardrop Coupe bringing in $4,620,000.
Topping the Bonhams auction at The Quail was a 1970 Porsche 917 from the Michael Amalfitano Collection that started life as a short-tailed coupe for Le Mans and was subsequently converted to an open-cockpit Spyder to run in the Interserie, Europe’s version of the Can-Am. The yellow and red machine brought a Porsche world record bid of $3,967,000 as the Bonham’s auction generated a sell-through rate of 74 percent.
Highlighting the Mecum Auction that enjoyed a 50-percent sale rate, were a pair of cars that both sold for $1,250,000. One was the ex-Tony Delorenzo 1967 Chevrolet Corvette L88 Convertible, while the other was a 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 Berlinetta.
While Russo & Steele didn’t record any million-dollar sales, its auction was topped by an $847,000 bid for the ex-Mark Donohue AMC Javelin with which the Penske Racing driver won the 1971 Trans-Am championship. Their second-highest seller was a 1965 Shelby Cobra street car, CSX2461, that went for $649,000. Russo & Steele sold 42 percent of the cars they offered.
