Market Intelligence
The Bargain Jewels of Monterey Week
Amid nine-figure totals, eleven cars slipped through Monterey’s auctions for sums a passionate driver could genuinely consider.
Over $754 million, 144 cars above the million-dollar mark, twenty-two above five million, and eleven above ten million. A new record for any edition of Monterey Week, surpassing the previous result by more than $250 million.
Setting our feet on the ground and setting aside the record upon record, today I want to put forward eleven cars, sold at those very same auctions – let that be clear – for around $100,000. Accessible cars, in other words, that would have delighted those who, after buying a car, actually drive it rather than place it under a glass case.
This time we work in reverse: we start from the last auction we covered and move backwards. So, from Mecum I would choose – well, to begin with, the BMW M6. Not the modern one (which, even with the V10, is a fine little gem at a low price) but a 1988 example in fire red. If the name means little to us Europeans, it is because the car was never sold on this side of the Atlantic under that name, but rather as the M635 CSI. The car was identical, fitted with the 3.5-litre engine (and 286 horsepower) that had been developed on the BMW CSL and then on the M1 – two models that now command prices in the order of half a million dollars. This one, however, was a grand-touring coupé with air conditioning, leather interior, and a sunroof, ready to carry you from Monterey to Miami without breaking your back or emptying your wallet. And it flew away at: $38,500.
