For the collector car world, it is the biggest, most star-studded week of the year. The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion are the magnets that draw the best collector car “iron” on the planet to California’s storied Monterey Peninsula. The historic racing and the unmatched concours are attended by thousands, but the collector-car auctions that have materialized to tempt — and perhaps taunt — attendees have become a major draw in themselves. Events like the Mecum Auction Monterey are where the collector car hobby meets big business.
2018 Mecum Auction Monterey Could Top Last Year’s Sales of $34 Million
We mean “big business” when we say it, too. Mega money will change hands and mega cars will change ownership over the course of the lengthy four-day weekend. If you want a sense of how much money will be spent, guests to last year’s Mecum Daytime Auction at the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa on Del Monte Golf Course wrote checks for more than $34 million. In all 328 vehicles sold in the Mecum Auction’s four-day run.
For those of you who view the collector car hobby as “old guys with older cars,” you should be aware that one of the biggest trends in the hobby/business is the gaining importance of nearly new cars. Last year the three vehicles that grossed the most money in the Mecum Monterey auction were a 2014 model, a 2015 and a 2017. The last, presumably, was still under warranty.
Of course, these weren’t ordinary used cars. The 2014 Ferrari LaFerrari with just 566 original miles sold for $3.45 million. A 2015 Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse, one of a production run of just 150, brought $2.35 million. And a nearly new 2017 Ferrari F12tdf commanded $1.25 million.
So what will capture the big dollars at this year’s Mecum Monterey Auction? You will see supercars like a 2018 Porsche 911 GT3, 2017 Ferrari California T 70th Anniversary Edition, and 2017 Lamborghini Centenario LP770. In addition you will find some classic American cars, primarily from the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies, and some quirky collectibles from a variety of eras.
Listen to Mecum Auction TV Host John Kraman on the Monterey Auction
Noted as the “daytime auction,” Mecum Auction’s Monterey event will take place on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, August 23-25 at the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa – Del Monte Golf Course, 1 Old Golf Course Road Monterey, CA 93940.
Gates for the auction open daily at 8 am, and it is one of the biggest bargains in the entire car-spangled weekend. Advance ticket price is $20 per person, per day and advanced ticket sales are offered until 11:59 pm CDT, August. Children 12 years and younger get in free.
If you can’t be there in person, the auction runs on NBC Sports Channel around the country.
More information is available at https://mecum.com/auctions/monterey-2018/.
Photo credits: Mecum Auctions
