Gooding & Co

A $5 million sale puts you into the top 150 most valuable cars ever sold at auction, and that’s where we’ve drawn the line in our first preview of the coming Monterey Car Week Auction cluster.

In the midst of a global pandemic the success of Gooding & Company’s “Passion of a Lifetime” auction on the weekend seems like a miracle. Eight cars topped US$1 million and $45,231,210.76 was realized in just 90 minutes … at just over $500,000 a minute.

After the first big online-only foray by the biggest automotive auction cluster on Planet Earth, it's clear that automobiles are not particularly suited to online-only auctions, but that significant strides were made in the right direction.

So far this year, there hasn't been a car sold for eight figures, but one auction to be held at the Concours of Elegance on September 5, 2020 could see three cars all surpass that mark inside two hours.

The pandemic is catalyzing rapid change in the way the world does business, and the cancellation of Monterey Car Week offers a tantalizing glimpse of what the new normal might look like for the world's biggest car show once we have rebalanced.

Cars that can win a major international concours event ALWAYS have a story to tell, though it is indeed rare that the two "best in show" cars have stories that are as extraordinary as the winners of the 25th Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance.

Amelia Island is a concours event of the highest order. For our preview this year, we've assembled all the cars that might sell across these three auctions for a million dollars or more, plus a handful of fascinating cars that will sell for less.

The dune buggy in which ​Steve McQueen took Faye Dunaway on a full-noise drive in the The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) is heading to auction. The custom Myers Manx buggy will go to auction at Bonhams Amelia Island auction in March, 2020.

Monterey Car Week is where the world's most monied automotive enthusiasts congregate once a year, and as usual, there are quite a few elite motorcycles on offer. We count 15, maybe 16 motorcycles that are expected to fetch six figures, headed by two Crockers likely to fetch $500,000 each.

It requires at least $10 million to buy a Ferrari 250 GT California Spider at auction. Two California Spiders (one SWB, one LWB) will be auctioned during Monterey Car Week this year, and how they fare will be a key indicator for the top end of the market.

The star of the show at this year's Monterey Car Week will be THE original Porsche. It is one of three original Porsche Type 64s built, the only one to remain intact from new, and it is the very first car to wear the now revered Porsche nameplate.

This year we've assembled the 100 most interesting lots, regardless of whether they sold or not, and ordered them with the highest bid counted. It reflects the diversity of the automotive market this year more than ever.