An Insider's ViewThe 2006 Pebble Beach Weekend
In actual fact, ‘Monterey automotive week’ would now be a better description: over the past decade this has grown from being ‘just’ the world’s best known concours d’elegance - with an auction or two held in the neighbourhood - to a week long extravaganza which sees no fewer than three major concours, seven auctions and an endless round of cocktail parties, corporate hospitality junkets and receptions, not to mention vendor booths offering almost every automotive service, accessory and knick-knack one could possibly want (and yet more cars).
On a business level- and for any collector with a stable full of valuable machinery- Monterey serves as a barometer for the top end of the classic car market, both in the US and beyond. Many were wondering this year if the recent Middle Eastern conflict, surging oil prices, rising interest rates and general economic uncertainty would translate into a softening of the market.
Kicking off the festivities on Wednesday evening is Gordon McCall’s Jet Party, held in a private hangar on the grounds of Monterey Airport. Ever-tanned and smiling Gordon is Christies’ longstanding US automotive consultant and this event serves to promote his events and detailing businesses, Christies’ sale (which takes place the following evening in the adjacent hangar) and slick firms selling private aircraft, which are laid out on the tarmac for partygoers to browse over with the auction cars interspersed between them (the idea being that a $1m Ferrari looks affordable next to a $40m Gulfstream…). Some 1,000 of Gordon’s closest friends turned up this year, including many familiar faces, despite unseasonally cold weather. It’s a great opportunity to meet people you might not have seen since the last Monterey week and, as always, there was an upbeat atmosphere. One of the most entertaining exhibits was a humble new Volkswagen Beetle into the posterior of which its Californian owner had shoehorned a jet airplane engine. No, I don’t know why either but his periodic start-up demonstrations had the guests enthralled and covering their ears, not to mention knocking over crowd barriers 50 metres behind. Best of all, it’s road registered- the ultimate antidote for road rage!
Many of the Pebble Beach concours entrants were up early the next morning to take part in the now traditional Tour d'Elegance, a CHP escorted 65 mile drive around the Monterey peninsula for cars entered for the concours. Introduced several years ago to counter criticism that many of them were too preened to be driven, this tour has proven popular and earns cars points in the event of a tie-breaker in the concours. It provided a good opportunity to preview many of the exciting entries for this year's event, with Voisin a featured marque.
First up of the major auction houses, Christies took centre stage the following evening in the hangar they have occupied since two years ago newcomer David Gooding bagged the prime spot his former employer had long enjoyed at Pebble Beach. Christies arguably still feel the loss of Gooding and his erstwhile British colleagues Malcolm Welford and Miles Morris, who later left to start their own private sales business in the US. Under the stewardship of a friendly, young car department team, Christies still put together quality, well presented sales and this was no exception, but gone for them- at least for now- are the late 90s days of five-plus million dollar star lots. Highlighting their Monterey sale was a single-owner collection of Porsches, ranging from an ultra rare 1962 Carrera Abarth through all the most interesting 911 variants (including 911R and RS prototypes) right up to a 1990s Turbo S. In the flesh though, many were let down by indifferent presentation, perhaps reflecting the fact that the entire collection had been assembled recently. The tomato red four cam 356 Carrera Speedster achieved $300,000 plus commission and an early Carrera RS 2.7 $290,000 plus commission, but the Carrera Abarth and 911R both failed to reach their reserves. The smoke billowing from the engine bays of most of the Porsches as they were driven onto the ramp in front of the audience cannot have helped, much like the thunderclap backfire from the exhaust of the Carrera RS just as bidding got underway. A 1952 Ferrari 225S with matching numbers and no horror stories was sensibly estimated and drew a deserved $1,150,000 plus commission. The red 1972 Lamborghini Miura SV which has changed hands three times in less than 2 years and was looking slightly more forlorn than I remembered it, finally found (one hopes) a happy new owner at $420,000 plus commission- Christies are probably feeling smug having taken it back from a dissatisfied buyer at a rather lower figure just a few months ago. Topping the bill at Christies, though, was a rakish looking Mercedes-Benz S type with two seater torpedo coachwork by Parisian artisan Saoutchik which had remained in the same family from new and drew a mid-estimate $3,300,000 plus commission from US real estate developer and philanthropist Peter Ministrelli. I’d call that well bought considering its history.
On Friday evening the attention shifted to Bonhams at the nearby Quail Lodge Resort and Golf Club, owned by Hong Kong based car collector Sir Michael Kadoorie’s Peninsula Group and located in a quiet valley the other side of Carmel. Bonhams have not found it easy in the USA to duplicate the success they enjoy elsewhere in the classic car market, having started well here back in 1998 but with momentum falling off since then in the face of stiff competition from homegrown outfits like RM and Gooding. This year, though, Bonhams hit the jackpot with the consignment of over a dozen cars previously in Germany’s 190-car Rosso Bianco Collection, sold in its entirety by tyre entrepreneur and former racing driver Peter Kaus to a longstanding supporter of Bonhams earlier this year. These encompassed greats such as a 1938 Talbot Lago T150SS Goutte d’Eau (Teardrop) coupe by Figoni and Falaschi (or ‘Phoney and Flashy’, as the Brits called them), surely one of the most voluptuous designs ever to grace a motor car. This car had it all: the right name, striking looks, excellent provenance (ex-Rob Walker) and, most important of all, it was fresh to the market. No fewer than four similar Teardrop coupes have been offered- and sold- at auction in the past year and this was arguably the best of them. Despite this, however, and to most experts’ surprise, the bidding stalled at $2,800,000, low compared to recent transactions and not enough to tempt the car’s seller. From the same source, a matching numbers 1955 Ferrari 750 Monza with movie history was teasingly under-estimated ($750-900,000) and drew $1,000,000 plus commission from a US collector, still great value: a matching numbers Monza is almost impossible to find for less than $1,500,000 today. The Ford GT40, like so many of its brethren a racing car with a turbulent history (someone else apparently owns what’s left of the original chassis) failed to sell under the hammer but changed hands shortly afterwards, and the lovely Jaguar D-type- a model always keenly priced compared to its period Italian rivals and one of few ‘D’s not to have morphed into two or more cars- was arguably good value at $1,900,000 plus commission. I suspect these cars still have some more value left in them.
The following evening, after a day’s racing at nearby Laguna Seca, collectors packed into the Portola Plaza, a modern hotel in downtown Monterey, for RM’s blockbuster auction. Topping the bill was the (in)famous 1958 Ferrari 412S, a great but over-exposed car which has been shopped around the world for the best part of three years. A one-off ‘big banger’ Ferrari fitted from new with the 450bhp engine from Count De Portago’s tragic 1957 Mille Miglia 315S, this two-seater sports-racer was unsold at last year’s Sotheby’s debacle in Maranello and many observers were surprised that RM now took it for their flagship sale. Although estimated at $7-9m, bidding stopped at $5.1m and the owner pragmatically decided to let it go to a new US owner, although I suspect it may not be long until we see this car coming up again. An exceptional Ferrari 500TRC barchetta was sold to a telephone bidder for a strong $2.1m (plus premium) whilst the stunning looking but unrestored Bentley 4 ¼ coupe by Vesters and Neirinck was snapped up by a Texan buyer for a well-below-estimate $1.150m (all prices plus premium). Amongst the more modern offerings, a concours winning yellow Ferrari 275GTB/4 climbed to over $900,000, a new auction record, and everyone was surprised when bidding on a 1957 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster with rare Rudge wheels and factory hard top broke through the $600,000 barrier, another record. RM claim no less than $43m in sales for this auction, easily the highest total of the weekend.
Finally, the sales marathon drew to a close on Sunday evening in David Gooding’s packed tent overlooking the Pebble Beach concours lawn. A well presented catalogue included something for everyone and although this year David could not boast the highest price of the weekend, he did achieve some strong results such as $2.3m for a Bugatti Type 35C offered from the UK trade, $1m for an elegant Delahaye 135M Roadster by Figoni and $700,000 for a Shelby GT350R driven in period by Pedro Rodriguez. David sold my favourite car of the weekend: a copper liveried Ferrari Daytona road car with ‘hot rod’ mods carried out for its first owner, Nevada casino magnate Bill Harrah, for just $310,000 (all prices plus premium) which seemed a bargain compared to a real racing version or a genuine spyder.
What conclusions can we draw from this frenetic four day sales marathon on the Monterey peninsula? Well, the market is holding up well and there are certainly still plenty of buyers, particularly in the USA, who can be tempted to part with large sums in return for instant gratification. There seems to be an ‘I want it now’ mentality rather than the typical European reflection, ‘Let me study what the last one achieved before I decide’. However, arguably we did not see quite as many crazy prices as have characterized some recent auctions, implying that the market is firm but no longer rising at the pace which we have seen over the past 18 months, perhaps no bad thing in the longer term.
Oh, and if you’re interested in the rest of the weekend, a 1931 Daimler Double Six tourer by Corsica with an impossibly long bonnet won Best of Show at the concours d’elegance, narrowly beating a gorgeous Mille Miglia winning 1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 Touring Berlinetta and the uber-rare 1939 Mercedes-Benz 540K Autobahnkurier, seen in public for the first time since the war. It was quite a weekend: if you’ve never been, you should experience it at least once.