There are an awful lot of ultra high-end cars going under the hammer at Monterey. Here's my fantasy picks.
By happy coincidence I will be in California for the Monterey week. Unfortunately I will only be able to get there until Sunday 15th so will not be there in time for the RM auction (or possibly fortunately, from the point of view of my wallet).
RM, along with Gooding and Co, Mecum Russo and Steele, and Bonhams have bumper sales with RM adding a third day to get through all the lots consigned. There are mutterings on the internet that this is a case of sellers cashing in before a price crash in classic cars; be that as it may, there certainly are an awful lot of ultra high-end cars going under the hammer.
The headline car is a Pontoon fender Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa (pictured at the top). Like the record-breaking car auctioned at Maranello last year this is a customer car without the De Dion rear suspension of the factory cars. Will this one achieve an even higher price? Possibly, but the fact that this sale is being made in the US and the relative weakness of the pound and Euro against the dollar may put off potential European buyers.
So of the other cars in the auction, which would be my fantasy picks?
Well, for less than the Testa Rossa but still wallet-wiltingly expensive the Ferrari 375 MM (est. $5-6 million) is a very rare (one of seven made) brutally handsome road racing Ferrari Berlinetta which would be a star at virtually every event it went to and ideal for the Mille Miglia retrospective.
A little more road usable, the Series 1 Ferrari 250 Cabriolet is one of the prettiest Ferrari convertibles and in my opinion better looking than the far more famous Ferrari 250 California. Estimated at $1.5 to 1.8 million it's still hugely expensive but far less than the aforementioned California and only a little more than a far more common Ferrari 275GTB/4 (est. $1.1-1.3 million) also in the auction.
Finally, and a lot more affordable than the high dollar Ferrari's, a De Tomaso Mangusta (est. $90-110k) caught my eye. The predecessor to the Pantera, the rare Mangusta suffered from a lack of development when new, as the chassis was not entirely up to the power of the Ford V8. However, it is arguably one of the most beautiful early mid-engined exotics, easily as eye-catching as the much more expensive Miura (a car which also suffered from it's fair share of development issues), and with suitable chassis and tyre upgrades would be a distinctive and head-turning classic car.
The full online catalogue can be found here, and I'll finish this blog with another picture of the awesome Ferrari 375MM.