The 10 Most Expensive Cars Sold at the 2017 Monterey Auctions, Day 1
Monterey Car Week annually brings thousands of moneyed automotive enthusiasts to central California for a multiple-day celebration of great cars. What better setting, then, for an auction house to offer some fine cars to the gathered throngs?
This car competed in the Formula B category, later known as Formula 2, and won its very first race, the 1948 Stockholm Grand Prix. Its driver, Prince Bira, was judged to have jumped the start and was disqualified.
The car wasn’t badly damaged, however, and after being repaired, it went on to be campaigned by Argentine drivers including Fangio and Roberto Mieres. Today, the unrestored monoposto still wears the livery of the early-1950s Argentine racing team and is powered by a period-correct 1460-cc inline-four Simca-Gordini engine.
In the early days of luxury motoring, carmakers like Bentley and Rolls-Royce entrusted various coachbuilders to create bodies to complement their exquisite underpinnings. This approach became far less common after World War II, though, which makes this Bentley sedan noteworthy, as it is one of reportedly only six left-hand-drive Flying Spurs of the time period to receive bodies by coachbuilder James Young.
An aluminum-block 6.2-liter V-8, a four-speed automatic transmission, and air conditioning help make this opulent S2 sedan a highly appealing midcentury tourer.
The thrilling 2017 Ford GT has done little to overshadow the greatness of the GT that preceded it by more than a decade. These supercars never really depreciated, and this sale price is merely average.
This car was previously enjoyed by only one owner, who added a Ford Racing power-upgrade kit (which includes a smaller-diameter pulley for the supercharger) and clocked about 3700 miles. Let’s hope the new owner doubles that mileage before Thanksgiving and continues driving this gem regularly.
The Porsche 911 earned its status as an automotive icon long before the 996 generation ushered in novelties such as water-cooled engines, amorphic headlamps, and a Boxster-like visage. Such departures from long-standing tradition help enhance the desirability of the preceding, 993 generation of the rear-engined sports car.
As the apogee of the 993, the 424-hp Turbo S model is particularly desirable, as indicated by this sale price. This car also benefits from $35,000 worth of recent service at a Porsche dealership.
The Jaguar name first appeared on a car from the Swallow Sidecar Company in 1935, when it was used on a 2.5-liter sedan. A convertible Tourer body style of this six-cylinder model would soon follow, and this car is one of 105 Jaguar-labeled Tourers built in 1936 and ’37.
This car was recently fully restored to its original specifications, which include enormous speedometer and tachometer gauges. The metal tag from its original selling dealer in London—Leigh Park Motors—is preserved under the hood.
The 1963 Corvette is distinctive not just for its one-year-only split-window backlight design but also for the debut of the now venerated Z06 edition. The Z06 package included a 360-hp 327-cubic-inch V-8, heavy-duty brakes, and a stiffer suspension.
That didn’t last long, though, because Matteson’s father soon learned about her “weekend activities” and forbade her from continuing. According to Worldwide Auctioneers, Matteson wasn’t deterred and continued to engage “in some illicit interstate highway competition, mounting a pair of aircraft landing lights under the front bumper.” In the ensuing decades, this Z06 has led a more traditional life, receiving a full restoration and earning plenty of awards on the Corvette show circuit.
Dual-Ghia built only 117 cars in its first production run from 1956 through 1958 (and even fewer in its second spurt in the early 1960s). This happens to be the first one off the line.
The second owner, also from Monterey, bought the car in 1986 and kept it until 2015. A 14-month restoration of the Chrysler-based model was completed last October.
If you didn’t lose your fortune in the Great Depression, you might have been among the few who could splurge for a fine automobile like this 175-hp, V-12–powered Packard roadster.
This car sat parked for 30 years, beginning in 1959, but, remarkably, it retains all of its original components. Upon completion of a four-year restoration, it was displayed at the 2013 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and earned third place in its class.
A vintage Fiat for half a million bucks? That’s right.
Surely this spacious Brass Era car impressed customers of the Mohonk Mountain House in nearby New Paltz, New York; the hotel’s owner purchased this car new. Its 75-hp 8.6-liter inline-six engine is said to be ready to power this car on new adventures as it settles into its second century.
It’s easy to see why this car is so valuable. But beyond its breathtaking looks is the fact that it is believed to be one of the handful of sporty BMW 328s that Carrozzeria Touring built in early 1939 with the intention of fielding them in the famous Mille