Pleasure beach

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As stellar classics gathered on the eighteenth fairway of the Pebble Beach Golf Links course, nearby others were being sold for megabucks

The sight of more than 200 primped and perfumed classics on the perfectly-manicured Pebble Beach lawns always demands closer inspection, but in more than 30 years of attending the event, the 2007 event was perhaps the biggest standout yet. What’s more, this is the first time in recent years that there was morning sun, as opposed to being shrouded in mist.

Duesenberg was this year’s feature marque, with every significant coachbuilt example of Indiana’s finest being displayed along the Pacific edge in Monterey. And it was the breathtaking ex-Ab Jenkins, Duesenberg SJ-based Mormon Meteor of Harry Yeaggy that deservedly scooped the coveted Best of Show award.

Amazing auction results were plentiful, too. The Gooding sale included the most notable result of the weekend, when the 1884 De Dion Dos-a-Dos realised £1.7m. This machine claims to be the oldest running road vehicle, predating the 1886 Benz normally accepted as such.

Significant results at the RM sale included a Ferrari LWB California Competizione and a very formal-bodied Duesenberg built for artist Ethel Mars (see panel on right).

In the Gooding sale, only 10 cars out of 135 remained unsold, and in the RM auction only six cars out of 205 entered failed to find buyers. On this evidence, the US classic car market is still booming. But for how long?

Record-breakers

Auction results demonstrate a boom in the US classic car market

Among the five or six auctions going on, only two were to be significant: Gooding and Company – for the first time holding a two-day sale with 135 cars, and RM Auctions with its usual Friday and Saturday sales selling 205 cars. Surprisingly, for the first time Gooding grossed more than RM, with $61m (£30.2m) against RM’s $45m (£22.3m), despite the two auctions clashing on the Saturday.

Stars of the RM sale were a Ferrari LWB California Competizione, which made $4,950,000 (£2,450,000), and the Ethel Mars Duesenberg which, at $4,400,000 (£2,178,000), fetched $2m more than the owner needed. A beautiful Delage D8 made $3,750,000 (£1,856,000), again nearly twice the amount expected.

Cars of interest to Motor Sport readers were a Chevrolet Z-28 Group 4 car, purchased by a prominent English dealer for $85,000 (£42,000), and two 427 Cobras achieving $682,000 and $770,000 (£337,700 and £381,250). A 1963 front-engined Watson Indy roadster, rarely seen in Europe, sold for $240,000 (£118,850).

On the Sunday a very important collection of early American racing cars was sold for David Uihlein. Among the collection was a 1925, straight-eight Duesenberg Speedway car at $330,000 (£163,400) and two Miller type 122s, both selling for $495,000 (£245,100). Later in the sale a very bad example of an Alfa 8C Monza sold for $907,000 (£449,100) – about a third of the price of a good one – and an equally poor example of a Bugatti 35B fetched $605,000 (£299,600), again about one third of the value of a pure one. 

Other cars of interest were a Ferrari Daytona Spider at $1,056,000 (£523,000) (to be compared with the $2m (£990,400) of the low-mileage Daytona Spider in the Gooding sale), an English-bodied Mercedes 540K at $2,530,000 (£1,252,800), an Aston Martin DB4 GT (one of the two LHD lightweights) at $1,650,000 (£817,000) and an unrestored Cooper ‘Monaco’ making $200,000 (£99,000).

Two cars that failed to sell were a Ferrari 512M with a high bid of only $750,000 (£371,300) and a like-new Mercedes CLK–GTR with a high bid of $1,200,000 (£594,100). 

David Gooding managed to secure three important collections for his sale. One was a selection of Ferraris from the estate of Hollywood director Greg Garrison; the estate sale of Ann Klien included the aforementioned ‘Blower’ Bentley and a collection of Rolls-Royces including an example of each year of Silver Ghosts from 1907 to 1915. The entire proceeds went to Cancer Research at Ohio State University.

From the Garrison collection, most notable examples included a Ferrari 410 SuperAmerica at $1,320,000 (£653,500) and a Ferrari 250GT at $1,100,000 (£544,600) – both new records. As mentioned earlier the Daytona Spider (with only 79 miles recorded) in a terrible shade of gold achieved more than $2m (£990,200), also a record. The Silver Ghosts from the Solove collection all made good money: of particular note was the 1914 open tourer by Mulliner at just under $1,900,000 (£940,600) and the famous ‘Corgi’ limousine knocked out for just under $3 million (£1,485,200), another record.

Other cars of interest were a Bonneville Belly-tank racer (made from the fuel tank of a WW2 P51 Mustang) which sold for $440,000 (£217,900). Two unrestored cars made record prices, a Ferrari 166 which started life as Spider Corsa and was subsequently rebodied by Scaglietti, which fetched $1,050,000 (£520,000), and a fantastic barn-find Alfa Romeo 1750GS which made $946,000 (£468,500).

2007 Monterey Historic races

Pre-1940 Sports & Touring Cars

1. Brian Mullin

1938 Talbot Lago 26SS

2. Jan Voboril

1924 Ford T Barber-Warnock

3. David Swig

1931 Chrysler CD-8 LM

1925-1950 Racing Cars & Indy Rdstrs

1. David Morris

1934 ERA

2. Mark Gillies

1939 Maserati 4CL

3. Peter Giddings

1935 Alfa Romeo 8C-35

1955-1962 Production Sports Cars under 2300cc

1. Leonard Turnbeaugh

1958 Porsche 356

2. Kaid Marouf

1960 Alfa Romeo SZ

3. Ranson Webster

1960 Porsche–Abarth

1956-1960 Sports Racing Cars under 2500cc

1. Pete Lovely

1959 Lotus 11

2. Jim Lawrence

1958 Lotus 15

3. Richard Goldsmith

1958 Lotus 11

1955-1960 Sports Racing Cars over 2500cc

1. Lawrence Bowman

1958 Lister-Chevy

2. John Mozart

1958 Lister-Chevy

3. Jonathan Feiber

1960 Maserati T-61

1963-1966 Production Sports Cars over 2500cc

1. Rob Walton

1965 Cobra Daytona

2. Phil Gallant

1964 Cobra

3. Terry Gough

1965 Corvette

1965-1972 FIA Mfg. Championship Cars

1. Chris MacAllister

1972 Mirage M6

2. Bobby Rahal

1972 Lola T-290

3. Ian Wood

1972 Rawlson

1947-1955 Sports-Racing & Prod. Cars under 2000cc

1. Don Crawford

1955 Lotus Mk IX

2. Jeff Abramson

1954 Ferrari 500MD

3. David Brown

1955 Cooper Bobtail

1947-1955 Sport Racing & Prod. Cars under 2000cc

1. Bernard Juchli

1955 Hagemann-Jaguar Special

2. Terry Larson

1952 Jaguar C-type

3. John Buddenbaum

1949 Parkinson-Jaguar

1955-1963 Formula Cars (F1, F2, Formula Junior)

1. Jimmy Dimingos

1962 Cooper T59 

2. Reg Howell

1963 Brabham BT-6 

3. Patrick Moran

1962 Lotus 22

1955-1962 Production Sports Cars over 2300cc

1. Tony Garmey

1957 Chevrolet Corvette

2. Ned Spieker

1961 Ferrari 250 SWB

3. Ron Cressey

1959 Chevrolet Corvette

1966-1974 Historic Can-Am Cars

1. Chris MacAllister

1971 McLaren M8F

2. Steve Cook

1968 McLaren M6B

3. Tom Malloy

1971 McLaren M8E

1961-1965 Sports Racing Cars

1. John Harden

1963 Huffaker Genie

2. Tom Claridge

1961 Lotus 19

3. John Morton 

1964 Lotus 23

1972-1981 Historic IMSA GT Cars

1. Chad Raynal

1975 Dekon Monza 

2. Rob Walton

1978 Porsche 935

3. Bruce Canepa

1979 Porsche 935