Auction stations! The star cars crossing the block in Monterey Car Week
Monterey Car Week is a peak sales period in the calendar, with all the big auction houses out in force with their rarities. These are some of the most anticipated lots from across the week
The 1996 McLaren F1 GTR will be one of the stars in Monterey
RM Sotheby's
Monterey Car Week has a habit of redefining what “notable” means at auction, and 2026 is no exception.
Five houses – Bonhams, RM Sotheby’s, Gooding & Co, Broad Arrow and Mecum – are converging on the Peninsula with a catalogue that spans quad-turbo hypercars barely run-in, Le Mans winners with genuine period pedigree, and at least one Formula 3 car that Ayrton Senna drove to victory on his single-seater debut.
Estimates run from the merely eye-watering to the genuinely absurd – a McLaren F1 GTR tipped north of $35m headlines proceedings – but it’s the stories behind the cars, not just the numbers, that make this year’s selection worth a closer look.
Here are the lots we’ll be watching most closely when the hammer falls.
Bonhams: The Laguna Seca Auction, Aug 13
2024 Bugatti Chiron Super Sport
Est: $4.3-4.8m
One of just 80 built and further customised by Bugatti’s ‘Sur Mesure’ (custom tailored) department to the tune of an extra $450,000, this Super Sport is certainly a head-turner in Glacier white and Rouge Étoilé (white with red bits, to you and I).
Beneath the carbon bonnet lurks a 7.9-litre quad-turbo W16 producing 1578bhp and helpfully limited to just 273mph for road use. This car has done barely 1350 miles, and don’t expect its new owner to rack up too many more either.
2000 Lamborghini Diablo GT
Est: $2.1-2.6m
Bonhams clearly has a thing about the 80s, as this is again one of just 83 examples built. Featuring a 5,992cc V12 kicking out 575bhp through a manual – yes, manual gearbox- this is one of the rarest and most desirable production Lambos ever.
The GT was the road-going ‘homologation special’ for the Bolognese brand’s race cars at the time. This is the 74th chassis, finished in carbon black and having covered just 14,208km. It also still has its rare accompanying factory leather briefcase and toolkit, but just the one key, though.
1966 Lola-Ford T70 MkII Can-Am
Est: $1.1-1.5m
Considering this sale happens at Monterey’s prime race event, it’s fitting there’s some suitable competition cars available, and they don’t come much better than this ex-Dan Gurney Lola-Ford.
Run by Gurney’s All-American Racers team and powered by a 5-litre Weslake V8 (what else?) and making 495bhp, this is the only car powered by the Blue Oval to win a Can-Am race. Gurney piloted it to victory in the second-ever Can-Am event at Bridgehampton in 1966, beating John Surtees, Mark Donohue, Bruce McLaren, Chris Amon and Phil Hill in the process.
Retired from action, it changed hands multiple times and even spent a chunk of its life living in a chicken coop before a full restoration. It has since featured at the Goodwood Festival of Speed and was the pace car for the 2018 Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona.
1967 Vollstedt-Ford 67 USAC ’Indianapolis’
Est: $550,000-$700,000
The name may not ring a bell, but the names will: Jim Clark, Cale Yarborough, George Follmer, Chris Amon… if you’re an IndyCar fan, this is the lot for you. Rolla Vollstedt was a long-time Indy racer, designer and chassis builder, with his designs being somewhat pioneering in the days of USAC.
This chassis, 67B, was raced by Clark in the 1967 Rex Mays 300 at Riverside, where the Scot qualified it second to Dan Gurney’s Eagle-Ford, briefly taking the lead before retiring when the engine broke a valve.
It went on to be driven at various events by Indy 500 winners Gordon Johncock and Tom Sneva before the aforementioned stars took a turn. Restored and fitted with an as-original 255ci (4.1-litre) Ford V8 engine and gearbox with period internals supplied by Al Unser, it has been a class winner in the 2020 Amelia Island Concours.
1993 Jaguar XJ220-N
Est: $675-725,000
Jaguar’s XJ220 supercar is a rare enough breed as it is, but this is one of just three Group N examples ever built. The short-lived Group N rules were designed to allow road-going supercars to be converted for racing with minimal modification. Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) created just three for the Benetton family to contest the 1993 Italian GT Championship.
As the final car, this one was kept as a spare and never raced and being Grp N, it retains many road car fittings such as electric windows, air conditioning, that 3.5-litre twin-turbo V6 and a manual gearbox.
2019 Toro Rosso-Honda SRT19
Est: $625-825,000
Amazing you can get a modern F1 car for basically the same price as an XJ220… albeit one that doesn’t drive. As with many modern F1 lots, this doesn’t have the engine – Honda retains its F1 powerplants after use – but does keep most of its mechanical componentry, including the 8-speed gearbox.
This chassis STR19-04 was a successful one too, with Pierre Gasly racing to second in the 2019 Brazilian GP and Alex Albon scoring points in two races with it. It also comes with two steering wheels and a spares package including an extra front wing.
Full lots here
RM Sotheby’s: The Monterey Auction, Aug 13-15
1996 McLaren F1 GTR
Est: $35m+
It’s impossible to call an F1 GTR ‘ordinary ’, so this car has to go that much further to be deemed extraordinary. Yet it does on account of it being the only GTR finished in McLaren factory ‘Pop Art F1’ livery and was then owned by Pink Floyd drummer and noted petrolhead Nick Mason for 25 years. It’s also one of only two ‘short-tail’ prototypes, with the other one being the car that won Le Mans in 1995.
It got its own Le Mans mileage during testing for the 1996 race when it was operated by reigning champion team Kokusai Kaihatsu Racing and handled by David Brabham before being converted by the factory for road use. Blimey.
1962 Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato
Est: $12-15m
Number 14 of only 19 built and winner of not one, but two awards at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, and with a period racing history behind it, this is quite the gem. Originally raced around Australia in 1962, making its debut at Calder in the hands of three-time Aussie GP winner Doug Whiteford, it also featured on the cover of an issue of Sports Car World that year.
Subject to comprehensive restoration work in both 2000, 2016 and 2018, the car was named the winner of both the Zagato Centennial Postwar class and the Vitesse – Elegance Trophy at Pebble in 2019. With a matching-numbers engine, original bodywork and even a restored original owner’s manual, it’s a stunner.
1963 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport
Est: $11-13m
Perhaps the ultimate expression of Chevrolet’s racing ambition in the face of dominance from rival Carroll Shelby’s Cobra, acclaimed engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov’s fever dream peaked with the Grand Sport.
A purpose-built racer disguised as a production car, only five of these 5.3-litre V8-powered lightweights were constructed, and this one has a history of being driven by A.J Foyt, Jim Hall, Dick Thompson and more.
Dick Doane won three SCCA races during 1963 before the car finished second at the 1964 Sebring 12 Hours and third in 1965. Returned to its Sebring livery from ’64, it is perhaps one of the most coveted American production racers ever.
1979 Ferrari 512 BB/LM
Est: $2-3.5m
There are plenty of cars at RM’s sale potentially more valuable than this one, but when was the last time you saw one of these?
Ferrari officially quit world championship sportscar racing after 1973, except not entirely. With the success of the 365 GT4 Berlinetta Boxer road car, a few were modded into competition cars to meet IMSA regulations for 1978; sadly, all four retired on their Le Mans debut due to gearbox failures brought on by the sheer force of the 5-litre engines.
The cars were then reimagined into BB/LMs and clothed in Pininfarina-designed silhouette bodywork and raced in the 1979 Daytona 24 Hours, later achieving an IMSA class win at Le Mans in 1981.
This chassis, 29507, was the seventh of 25 built and has been a collector’s item its entire life with a matching-numbers engine and gearbox and Ferrari Classiche certification.
Full lots here
Gooding & Co: Pebble Beach, Aug 14-15
1963 Ferrari 250 P
Est: $15-20m
The first of Ferrari’s infamous ‘P car’ racing prototypes, the 250 P took the Scuderia into a new realm of endurance racing. Chassis 0810 made its competition debut at Monza in 1963 before finishing second at that year’s Sebring 12 Hours and third at Le Mans in the hands of Mike Parkes and Umberto Maglioli.
Powered by the Tipo 128 LM V12 engine, this car has been at the centre of one of America’s foremost Ferrari collections since 1988.
1968 Porsche 907 Langheck
Est: $4.5-5.5m
Looking for a piece of Porsche motorsport history? Look no further than the Stuttgart brand’s first 24 hours winner. That’s right, a full two years before the 917 took that landmark Le Mans win, this 907 secured glory at Daytona with the all-star driving team of Vic Elford, Jochen Neerpasch, Rolf Stommelen, Jo Siffert and Hans Herrmann.
Since leaving the factory racing stable, chassis 907-005 has passed through collections in Germany, Sweden, USA and England before being offered for sale with its original Type 771 flat-eight engine.
1966 Ferrari Dino 206 S Berlinetta
Est: $3.5-5m
An endurance racing veteran. This is the last of the three Dino 206 S Berlinettas built and was formerly operated by the legendary North American Racing Team (NART). Its competition history includes three Le Mans entries, two Sebrings, a Daytona, a Watkins Glen 6 Hours class win and even a Can-Am campaign.
The list of former drivers is no less impressive: Pedro Rodriguez, Nino Vaccarella, Jean Guichet and Charlie Kolb. With a matching-numbers V6 engine, it is being sold after nearly 40 years of ownership.
1959 Maserati Tipo 61 Birdcage
Est: $3-4m
Maserati’s ‘Birdcage’ may have only been built for a few years, but the model remains an icon of historic sports car racing. The ‘Birdcage’ nickname stems from the intricacies of its triangular tubular chassis. Chassis 2452 is the first of the breed, literally, as this car was number 1 off the production line of the 17 Tipo 61s built between 1959-1961.
Raced exclusively around the US West Coast from 1959-1963, it counts Ken Miles, Jim Hall, Jim Connor and Bob Drake among its former drivers. Original chassis and coachwork, but its engine hails from 2454 after the power unit was swapped toward the end of its period of competition.
Broad Arrow: The Quail, Aug 14
2003 Ferrari Enzo
Est: $9-11m
A Ferrari Enzo… with no reserve. What madness is this? Don’t get too excited, though, as given the estimates, your planned cheeky low bid is unlikely to come good.
Ferrari still considers the Enzo to be one of its finest-ever production cars, backed up by the fact that this example already has Ferrari Classiche certification.
Showing 13,200 miles and was recently treated to over $80,000 worth of servicing and detailing.
1954 Maserati A6GCS
Est: $2.4-2.9m
Not the highest-profile Maserati ever, but certainly a prominent early racer for the brand. This chassis won the 1954 Italian sportscar title in the hands of Luigi Musso and also counts several road-racing achievements among its comprehensive history file – including a class win at the gruelling Buenos Aires 1000km.
Notable off-track achievements include the Gran Turismo Trophy at the 2014 Pebble Beach Concours, plus it was digitally scanned by Sony Computer Entertainment to be included in Gran Turismo 7.
1981 Porsche 924 Carrera GTR Brumos
Est: $600-800,000
The 924 is a real unsung hero of Porsche’s sporting stable, and they don’t come much more highly decorated than this one, which took a class win at the 1982 Le Mans 24 Hours. Only 17 examples were made, and this one headed straight to favoured Porsche squad Brumos, which also racked up starts at both Daytona and Sebring.
Former drivers include Harry ‘Doc’ Bundy and Jim Busby (Le Mans), Manfred Schurti and actor James Brolin. Resplendent in its original BF Goodrich Le Mans livery.
1982 Ralt RT3 F3
Est: $500-700,000
Over half a million for an F3 car sounds mad, but this one was formerly raced by Ayrton Senna. Originally run by West Surrey Racing – now of touring car fame – Senna scored pole position, victory and fastest lap in this chassis, 291, on his F3 debut at Thruxton in November 1982.
It is believed to be the sole surviving F3 chassis raced by the Brazilian great. The less notable Enrique Mansilla took it to second in the British F3 Championship that year before Senna’s non-championship appearance. It was also formerly owned by Helmut Marko and was also driven by Gerhard Berger.
Mecum: Monterey, Aug 13-15
1963 Ferrari 250 GT/L Berlinetta Lusso
Est: $1.5-1.7m
Monterey simply wouldn’t be Monterey without a pristine Ferrari 250 crossing the block. This is chassis 4635, which was the 79th of the 350 produced between 1962-64.
Complete with a matching-numbers engine, it spent considerable time in a German collection where it received heavy restoration in 2014 and a rebuild of the Colombo V12. Featured in numerous magazines and complete with Ferrari Classiche certification, it’s covered just 3500km.
2018 Ford GT Le Mansory
Est: $3.2-3.5m
Question: You’ve just bought arguably Ford’s most impressive production car ever… why would you then do this to it? Mansory has courted an opinion-splitting reputation for its luxurious but controversial stylings, and with this you can see why.
Finished in bright orange with a garish lashing of carbon plus a baby blue interior, this car has covered only 699 miles from new; therefore, its twin-turbocharged 3.5L V6 should be in like-new condition.
1982 Porsche 935/84
Est: N/A
Competition cars aren’t plentiful at Mecum’s sale, but this superb Coca-Cola-liveried 935 proves quality beats quantity. Campaigned by Bob Akin throughout 1983 and ’84, it finished fifth overall at the Daytona 24 Hours in 1985.
Also formerly driven by Hans Stuck, its 3.3-litre twin-turbo flat 6 features Bosch fuel injection, a five-speed manual gearbox and a modern CoolBoxx driver cooling system so it’s completely usable for historic racing in warmer climes.
1984 Lola T616 Mazda(s)
Est: $200-250,000, $300-320,000
Like buses. You go years without seeing a Lola T616, and then two come along at once, at the same auction. Both part of the John Davis collection, each is powered by Mazda’s screaming 300bhp 1.3-litre rotary engine.
Chassis HU-3 (number 67) won its class at the 1984 Monza 1000Kms and went on to finish third in the C2 class at Le Mans. The sister car HU-2 (#68) had slightly better success in France, beating its sibling to win the C2 class that year at Le Mans, making Mazda the first Japanese brand to earn a class win at the world’s biggest endurance race and therefore earning a slightly higher estimate.