If the recent Monterey auctions are any indication, ’80s-like record prices are back, and racecars are leading the way. Over the course of the three-day Monterey Historics weekend, Christie’s, RM Auctions and Brooks each held their premiere North American auctions with significant racecars dominating each auction and record sales figures being reported by all three.
The Christie’s auction led the way with the sale of the 1966 Monza-winning Ferrari P3 for a staggering $5,616,000. Amazingly, this is the second highest price ever obtained for an automobile at auction (bested only by the early ’80s sale of a Bugatti Royale for nearly $7 million). According to Malcolm Keller of Christie’s, this sale points to the strength of the market for significant cars with clear histories. The sale of this Ferrari capped off one of Christie’s most successful automotive auctions to date with over $26,497,463 worth of cars changing hands and a total sales rate of 88%.
At RM Auctions, the sale of one of the original six Cobra Daytona Coupes for $4,000,000 helped push their total sales over $14,000,000 also making this their most successful sale to date with 82% of all cars offered being sold.
While smaller in size than the other two, the Brooks auction still fetched a whopping $3,082,500 for their Mille Miglia-winning 1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B, which pushed their total sales to just over $12 million and a total sales rate of 65%. (See Auction Action, pg 8, for more detailed results.)
Submitted by Casey Annis
