The K500 lowdown on this year’s Monterey sales

The much-predicted ‘changing of the guard’, a reaction to movements in the demographic profile of collectors, did not quite happen during last week’s selling spree on the Monterey Peninsula. After all, a 1934 Bugatti Type 59 was awarded Best of Show on the ramp in front of the Lodge on Sunday afternoon. But was there something in the air, a feeling of ‘moving on’ that led many to conclude the results were soft? Here’s our take.
 
Too many cars. Too many auctions. In 2015, a total of 392 entries generated a combined gross of $340m. This year, it took 649 to get to $331m after non-stop auctions, usually two a night, from Wednesday to Saturday. At the least, it’s overkill, and could be self-defeating as visitors faced with a cost of thousands (sometimes tens of thousands) to visit Car Week are turned off and would rather see some classics in action, or just have dinner and talk cars with friends.
 
Too many cars of a particular type. Offering several highly specialised four-cylinder 1950s Ferrari sports-racing cars over one weekend was just too much. All but one of the five ‘Daytona’ Berlinettas sold, but only one Spider of the three on offer, and it was cheap. Bucking the trend and proving its status as a gold-standard classic, every single 300 SL 'Gullwing' and Roadster found a new owner in Monterey.
 
The money is still there. Throughout the catalogues, average cars with potential found buyers at the right price as long as they looked sexy, were not too old and were exciting to drive. Rarity on its own (often rare for a reason) no longer sells cars.
 
Looking their age. Looks are subjective, but some of the earlier – 1950s in particular – sports cars, Ferraris most of all, such as Gooding’s 1953 375 America Coupé, struggle to resonate with newer buyers. The ‘super’, coachbuilt Ferraris such as the 400 Superamerica and 500 Superfast are no longer the must-haves they once were.
 
Compare the interest on these with the first Singer DLS to be sold at auction. The air in the Gooding tent was electric as the car was bought for $3,085,000. A regular car sold for $1.16m and all three Rufs sold around estimate. This week we’ve seen a Ruf in almost every big collector’s garage.
 
On the other hand...  When models go out of fashion and the cost to entry lessens, the opportunity to buy presents itself to more imaginative collectors.
 
You can download a list of all cars sold by Bonhams, Broad Arrow, Gooding & Co and RM Sotheby’s sorted by make and model HERE.

Photos by Peter Singhof