Market Intelligence
Pebble Beach Auctions: The Great Barometer
This article explores the international classic car market during the Monterey Week auctions in 2022. The article begins by presenting a brief history of the event, with total takings from the auctions increasing from $14 million in 1997 to $330 million in 2017. The article then highlights some of the most interesting models up for auction, including a 1963 Jaguar E-Type Lightweight Competition, a 1999 Acura NSX Zanardi Edition, a 1955 Ferrari 410 Sport Spider, and a 1963 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Roadster. The article concludes by speculating on whether the classic car market has reached its peak or if the growth is just beginning.
Before we talk about the most interesting models of the event, let’s take look at some numbers to understand what Monterrey week means for the international classic car market.
In 1997, the Monterey Week auctions (it wasn’t called that at the time) registered total takings of $14,030,000. Five years later, in 2002, that total rose to $35 million, which at the time seemed like a colossal number. Then, in 2007, the amount jumped to almost $135,000.000 and just one month later, Lehman Brothers closed its doors for good and the global economy took a dramatic turn for the worse. Fast forward five years to 2012 and a new record was set: $257,538,325 which rose to $330 million in 2017. Truly spectacular results, despite the odd adjustment here and there.
We’re now in 2022. The market is decidedly bullish and with each sale many cars are setting new records, forcing quotations to be revised quarter after quarter just to keep up with them. Have we reached the peak? Is the market about to decline? Or is just the beginning of the growth? Let’s try to figure it out by looking through several lenses at the start of the world’s most important auction week, featuring five auction houses and a global estimate of the cars on offer of $562,390,000. Need any more information to put this into perspective? Here you go: in 2002, just six cars were sold for over one million dollars, now they plan to sell 149!
