Monterey millionaires

Thirty-one cars sold for more than a million dollars and several new world records were established last August during Monterey’s annual Classic Car Week. This represented an increase of five million-dollar sales from last year, and included the highest price ever paid for any automobile at auction, the $16,390,000 brought in by the 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa offered at Gooding & Co.’s Pebble Beach Auction. That auction also broke fresh ground with the $10,340,000 paid for a 1931 Duesenberg Model J LWB Coupe that set new marks for both a Duesenberg sold at auction and for any American car.

The third world record was the $9,680,000 for which RM Auctions sold a 1937 Mercedes-Benz 540 K Spezial Roadster, the most ever paid at auction for a Mercedes-Benz. A bit farther down the dollar scale, but still notching the top price ever brought by a Porsche 911, was RM’s sale of the 1970 911 formerly owned by actor Steve McQueen that appeared in his movie Le Mans and went for $1,375,000.