Monterey 2021: Gooding sells McLaren F1 for $20.47m

Addressing a packed auction tent, British auctioneer Charlie Ross hammered the highlight of this year’s Monterey Week sales away at $18,600,000. With premium, that’s $20,465,000.

Although confidently announcing “I know it’s going to sell”, Ross encountered slow bidding in the $17ms until eventually dropping the hammer in a last-minute battle. The car will go to a small but very carefully curated North American collection.

The 1998 Mercedes-Benz AMG CLK GTR Strassenversion fared less well and will return to its consignor. Simon comments: “It was overshadowed by the F1’s hype and looked greedy considering it last sold for half that price not long ago. Buyers for these unicorn hypercars are bullish, but rarely foolish.”

At a glance (provisional):

* Gross: $62,518,700
* Percentage sold by number: 84%
* Top-selling car: 1995 McLaren F1 $20,465,000 gross, $18,600,000 net (est. “In excess of $15,000,000”)
* Well sold? The F40 was low mileage, but not that low: fewer than 2,500 miles. Considering its condition, $2,892,500 all-in is an outlier
* Well bought? The ex-Interscope 935 K3 came from a great home and will give someone a lot of hair-raising fun on the track for $1,930,000 incl. premium
* One to take away? The 935 K3

On a night where a third of the catalogue beat top estimate, other notable sales included the concours-standard Miura P400 (below) selling for $1,902,500 – surely an auction record, though private sales have achieved more – and the alloy-block 300 SL Roadster. The latter was presented in its sombre original colours (buyers favour unusual shades), but its big plus was a matching alloy block – hard to find today. Against a guide of $2m to $2.5m, it sold for $3,085,000.

The Ferrari 250 GT California Spider went just under low estimate for $10,840,000. Over to Simon: “The Cal’ Spider wasn’t widely considered a ‘full’ Competizione due to a steel body, so the price in the end was fair all round. It’s not a covered headlight SWB car despite the stripes.”

Also on the Ferrari front, the one-owner 1967 275 GTB/4 sold for a market-plus $3,662,500. Given the preferences of today’s collectors, the choice of red wasn’t a wise move at the time. All prices include premium.

Non-sellers included the ex-Alan Mann lightweight Ford GT40 that had been taken for an illicit spin some time in its life with unfortunate – sadly well-documented – consequences. The Maserati 200Si was perhaps a car a little out of its time in 2021.

Proving location, location, location works for cars as well as real estate, the pink Fiat Jolly that failed to sell earlier this year in an online European sale went for $145,600 at Pebble Beach. Must be the sea air.

Gooding at Pebble Lodge, 13 August 2021 – provisional results

Gross: $62,518,700
Number of cars not sold: 9
Number of cars withdrawn: 0
Total number of cars: 57
Number sold: 48
Percentage cars sold by number: 84%
Percentage of cars met or sold below low estimate: 27%
Percentage of cars sold below avge of estimates: 52%
Percentage of cars sold met/exceeded top estimate: 33%
Average price of cars sold: $1,302,473
Average year of cars offered: 1972
Percentage of cars offered at No Reserve: 40%

With thanks to Hammer Price

Photos by K500