You’re probably sick to death of me writing about Ferraris that sell for obscene amounts of money in rich locations.
Oh you’re not? OK then.
One Thursday this month I was sitting in the Planet Gemini in Monterey listening to a bit of karaoke (Thursday is always karaoke night at the Gemini) when one of the locals whispered in my ear, “Do you know that 40 per cent of the most expensive cars in the world are auctioned here?”
“Here at the Planet Gemini?” I naively asked after 38 martinis and only six mini corn dogs. Of course I quickly realised my mistake. Monterey is where extraordinarily expensive real estate meets sea, sky, seals, Steinbeck and collector car auctions.
In fact it then struck me that I had been in the area to see $520 million of exotic auto erotica pass its way from the well-manicured hands of wealthy owners to the multi-story garages of even wealthier owners.
Disappointingly, unlike last year, there was no $50m Ferrari topping the sales this year. But no need to cry Italian tears. Six of the top 10 sales were (mainly red) Italians. Any one of the top 10 would have put a minimum of $10m on your credit card and the top selling 1964 Ferrari 250LM would have seen you fork out $22m (or the price of three lattes in St Kilda) to the very happy folks at RM Auctions. RM sold $224m of the 805 cars going under the hammer. In other words, if you had emptied out your CBA head office replica tin money box you would have needed at least $520,000 worth of pennies and sixpence to bring home anything.
Jonathan Klinger from car valuer and classic insurer Hagerty says classic Ferraris from the 1960s were down 25 per cent, while the number of 80s and 90s cars, particularly Porsches, almost doubled this year. His boss, McKeel Hagerty, says that “the market is stabilising. There are still buyers at every price level, and sellers are expected to set more realistic reserve prices than they have during the past six months.” In other words, the bubble is beginning to stop bubbling.
PC-LEFT-SKIN PC-RIGHT-SKIN PC-LIFE-HEADER Ferraris rule Monterey: rich and famous line up for classics JOHN CONNOLLY THE AUSTRALIAN AUGUST 29, 2015 12:00AM Print Save for later 1995 Bugatti EB110 Super Sport, another of the $520 million of exotic cars sold at Monter1995 Bugatti EB110 Super Sport, another of the $520 million of exotic cars sold at Monterey.
1995 Bugatti EB110 Super Sport, another of the $520 million of exotic cars sold at Monterey.
Some highlights from the lost weekend on Cannery Row:
Up at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, two-time winner Jim Patterson’s 1924 Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A Cabriolet took best of show. Over at the Quail Motorsports Gathering, Lance Butler got a free Rolex when his peers voted Lance’s Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 Stradale the Rolex best of show. Sitting on the grass at the Quail Lodge Golf Club were more Ferraris than you’ve had bad gear changes, lots of Porsches and motorcycles
RM found one of 50 1931 Bentley Blowers a new home for $5.2m. The Pope’s red Enzo went through RM’s hands for an unholy $8m and Dave Gooding sold Vern Schuppan’s (the offer is still open for our LeMons 24 Hour team, Vern) for a handy $13m.
Talking of which, the sixth annual Concours d’LeMons, “Celebrating the oddball, mundane and truly awful of the automotive world”, saw 100 seriously sick owners display their even sicker machines at the local park. Matt Spielberg won the Unmitigated Gaul Award for the worst French car with his 1964 Citroen “Ami Break” (already broken). A 1995 Mad Maxima Nissan Altima won the Soul Sucking Japanese Appliance award.
