Pebble Beach: Secrets and Tricks of the World’s Most Famous Auctions
16 August 2025 3 min read 5 images
Photo credit: Bonhams, Broad Arrow Auctions, Gooding, Mecum, RM Sotheby’s
The great international auctions are a sure point of reference for the classic car market. Those held during Monterey Week in particular, even if, increasingly often, the main players bring important cars or entire collections to other events to cover the demands of the international market. For this reason, today, while waiting to have all the official results from Monterey Week, I want to start our analysis with a very precise goal: to show how each individual lot has a greater or lesser probability of success depending on the story it tells — understood, of course, as a certified history.
Roarington will present — through the analyses of the complete, published results — the five auctions of Bonhams, Broad Arrow, Gooding, Mecum, and RM Sotheby’s, mentioned not by chance in alphabetical order, while today we want to explain the mechanisms that lead to certain bids or certain withdrawals. Of course, without forgetting that the auction mechanism can provoke challenges down to the last dollar, when more than one bidder wants to have that car at all costs. But this is the beauty of the market.
Speaking of Pebble Beach and surroundings, I’ll play my trump card right away: the 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider Competizione was sold by Gooding for $25,305,000, a figure not yet officially published but unofficially confirmed by those who were present at or connected with the auction. It’s a truly spectacular price for a car from those years, but what matters is not the result itself but the context, the history behind it, the comparison with the “competition”, with those previously sold, with the estimate. Let’s try to understand.
First of all, the car was undoubtedly special: California Spiders are already extremely rare (fewer than 100 built), very precious (even in the best case, you won’t find one for less than $5 million). Then this was a rare short-wheelbase or SWB (here production is halved, but the price is doubled). On top of that, this was one of only two produced with an aluminum body and a Competizione-type engine.
The estimate was “over $20,000,000” and the auction was breathtaking. It started at $10,000,000, and immediately there was a jump to $15,000,000 (a single leap of $5 million, never seen before!). Then smaller raises followed — “smaller” so to speak, because they were still $1,000,000 each — until the hammer fell and applause broke out. Immediately, David Gooding, the founder, rushed to say that it was the most expensive car ever sold by Gooding, the most expensive California ever, and, I add, the tenth most expensive car ever sold.
Let’s take another example: the 1965 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III LWB Saloon offered by Bonhams. The hammer price of $87,360 may seem high — you can find this model for much less—but one needs to “look inside” this lot: having belonged to the Shah of Persia, today’s Iran, certainly played a role, as did the fact that it was left-hand drive, important for the United States. But above all, this car had been offered in Arizona in January with an estimate of $175,000–225,000 and a maximum bid of $100,000 (which would have been $112,000 with commissions), failing to sell. This time the estimate was lowered to $125,000–175,000, but as we’ve seen, the final result didn’t even come close, most likely weighed down by the recent, very fresh, previous failure.
On the opposite side, I want to mention the 1999 Nissan Skyline CRS GT-R V-Spec by NISMO. It appeared on the first day of the first auction, Broad Arrow at Motorlux. It had everything this model could possibly desire: it was the only one of this special series in Black Pearl Metallic, fitted with Ohlins suspension, 18-inch NISMO LMGT4 wheels, single ownership, and just 36 km since a complete restoration. Not to mention that Japanese cars from the 1990s are among the most in-demand at the moment, and that Broad Arrow has now made a name for itself setting record after record in this category.
At this point, one might ask why it was sold for $692,500, below the minimum estimate of $700,000–850,000. But there’s a reason: if we exclude the example used in no fewer than three Fast & Furious films (where people bought the story more than the car), the current record for the model is much lower: exactly $392,000. So instead of saying “it didn’t reach the estimate (ambitious, I’d add)”, it would be more correct to say “it nearly doubled the previous record” for the model, forgetting the movie and its implications.
Another interesting case comes from the question: why didn’t Mecum manage to sell a pair of Auburns offered as a single lot? One was a 1935 851SC Phaeton, the other a 1935 851SC Boattail Speedster, both in the same color combination: black with cardinal red interiors. Here the question one might ask is different: if RM Sotheby’s had in its auction a 851SC Boattail Speedster estimated at over one million, why did Mecum’s pair go unsold at $675,000? Granted, even RM’s remained unsold at $850,000 — still $175,000 more than the offer for Mecum’s two — it’s worth considering what exactly was being bought. In the case of the more expensive one, RM’s, it was the very first example produced, with many specifications never seen again, essentially a prototype as we’d call it today, with a perfectly documented history going back to the 1950s.
Moreover, the owner had maintained it to the highest standards since 2001 (thanks to RM’s own restoration division), without showing it publicly. Therefore, whoever bought it could present it at any concours d’élégance (Pebble Beach being the most prestigious) without risking rejection because it had been seen too recently elsewhere. Let’s not forget that when you buy these cars, the main purpose is to display them at major Concours d’Elegance. Finally, a more proper comparison: another 851SC Boattail Speedster had been sold by Broad Arrow the previous day for $654,000. Considering the value of the 851SC Phaeton at around $75,000, we get to $729,000, less than the $742,500 that Mecum’s $675,000 bid would have amounted to with the 10% commission included. In the end, the “pairing variable” confused the waters instead of being perceived as an opportunity.
Amidst million-dollar cars, let’s take a look at the Ferrari 400i, sold new in Madrid in 1981, in a magnificent Nero Tropicale with Beige leather interior. Here too the details mattered to reach the estimate of $150,000–200,000 (with no reserve): it had covered only 1,525 km since new, was equipped with a manual gearbox, and had undergone a $10,000 service in June of this year at Francorchamps of Costa Mesa. At $184,800, it became the second most expensive 400i ever sold at auction, the most expensive ever sold in the United States, and the most expensive of the last five years.
But here too an explanation certainly helps: bought in February 2025 by Bonhams in Paris for €82,800, it had been promoted as a car that had sat unused for years. The buyer seized the opportunity, investing $10,000 in a necessary overhaul and, by reselling it, maximized the value of its extremely low mileage of just 1,521 km. The price doubled. In conclusion, if these cases help us understand how every lot has its own story, we are now preparing to present the most significant cases from each of the auctions of Monterey Week. It will be interesting and, why not, useful. See you in the coming weeks.
