Market Intelligence
Car(s) of the Year Part 1: Pre-War
From a 1929 Ford hot rod to a Figoni-bodied Alfa Romeo – eight pre-war auction standouts that money alone cannot fully explain.
On 30 October, the seven finalists for the Car of the Year 2027 were announced and, for the first time in the history of the award, all of them are electric. A decidedly extreme choice, one that sits in sharp contrast with the true history of the automobile and its evolution. For this reason, our Car of the Year looks not at the cars that will arrive on our roads, but at the cars that changed hands in 2026 at the great international auction houses. No rankings, no points – only the pleasure of having identified jewels that will remain such forever. We have chosen eight for each era, the ones that struck us most for their beauty, history, or achievement. And not necessarily the most expensive: sometimes a $90,000 hammer price can tell as much of a story as one worth six million.
To avoid grouping together cars that have very little in common, we will proceed by era: this week the pre-war cars, then the 1950s and 1960s, the 1970s and 1980s, and so on through to the most recent.
Our Car(s) of the Year therefore begins with the pre-war period, with the eight antebellum cars we have selected from those that crossed the auction block in 2026 – presented month by month, to avoid any suggestion of a ranking.
