13 Cars That Caught Our Eye at RM Sotheby’s 2024 Monterey Auction

The three-day RM Sotheby’s Monterey auction was the highest-grossing of all the sales on the peninsula this year, with $154M in total sales, but this was well down from 2022’s record total of more than $227M. RM Sotheby’s also sold half of the week’s 10 most expensive cars, including the top sale of the week, a Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider. As we noted elsewhere during Car Week this year, though, the auctioneer had to work harder to get cars sold, and top-shelf vintage cars struggled more than they have here in the recent past. Big misses, for example, included a 1957 Ferrari 625 TRC that failed to meet reserve at a $7.9M high bid, and a 1955 Porsche 550 that went unsold at $3.3M.

Otherwise, this was the usual mix of Enzo-era Ferraris, prewar greats, important race cars, and various European sports cars that have defined this auction for years. There was even an impressive contingent of obscure 1980s and 1990s supercars, including four Vectors, a Cizeta, and an Isdera. Below are the important cars from RM Sotheby’s Monterey auction that we looked over closely.

Lot 274: 2005 Mercedes-Benz CLK DTM AMG Cabriolet

Sold for $621,000

Chassis no. WDB2094421T066300. Brilliant Silver Metallic over Anthracite. Original, #2 condition.

Equipment: 5439cc/582hp supercharged V-8, 5G-Tronic automatic, AMG brakes, rear wing.

Condition: One of 80 produced, recent service at Mercedes Classic Center. Showing 3279 miles. Good paint with little to no deterioration. There is no wear inside or out. Like-new condition. Sold new in Germany and brought to this country under the “Show or Display” exemption, then federalized.

Bottom line: After Bernd Schneider won the DTM title in 2003 in a Mercedes-Benz, the company offered essentially a 200-mph-capable DTM car for the road. Mercedes-Benz sold 100 coupes and 80 cabriolets, though there can’t be more than a handful of either in the U.S. RM Sotheby’s offered a coupe one lot after this, and it sold for a very similar $665,000, including fees.

Lot 263: 1996 Vector M12

Sold for $246,400

Chassis no. 1V9MB1228T1048005. Purple over black leather. Original, #2- condition.

Equipment: 7.0L/500hp Lamborghini V-12, 5-speed manual, Brembo brakes.

Condition: The fifth of 14 produced. Showing 6151 miles. The paint has some minor deterioration from age, but is not overly damaged. The interior shows minor wear to the driver’s seat. It is difficult to discern what is legitimate deterioration or poor build quality coming from Vector back in the day, nonetheless an incredibly interesting and head-turning car.

Bottom line: Anyone shopping for one of Jerry Wiegert’s star-crossed supercars was spoiled for choice in Monterey, because there were four Vectors on offer, all out of a single collection. Sadly, though, three of them failed to meet reserve. The 1991 W8 hammered at $575K (it sold in 2020 for $720K, and was reported sold after this auction at an undisclosed price), the 1993 WX-3 prototype hammered at $925K, and the one-off WX-3 roadster hammered at $850K. The only one that sold on the day was this M12, and it’s the least interesting of the group. By 1996, Vector had been taken over by Indonesian firm MegaTech, which also owned Lamborghini, so this is essentially a Diablo in Vector clothes. It brought way under its $400K low estimate.

Lot 338: 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 NART Alloy

Sold for $5,285,000

Chassis no. 10311; Engine no. 10311. Avorio over Rosso leather. Older restoration, #2- condition.

Equipment: 3286cc/300hp V012, six Webers, Marchal fog lights, centerlock alloy wheels, leather-wrapped steering wheel, power windows, radio.

Condition: Started life as a road car, and one of 16 with alloy bodywork. Luigi Chinetti converted it for competition with his North American Racing Team (NART) in 1968, and it finished first in class at Daytona in 1969 with Sam Posey and Ricardo Rodriguez-Cavazos driving. Wears a much older restoration today but it still looks gorgeous and shows only mild age to the paint, engine, and underbody. The interior looks gorgeous other than the steering wheel, which is conspicuously worn and may have been left original. A rare and desirable car even without the race history, and since 275 GTBs were not as often seen on the race track as some earlier Ferrari berlinettas, that Daytona win is a rare bonus.

Bottom line: Sold right within its estimate range, though given the race history and the alloy bodywork a slightly higher result still would have been realistic. This was the eighth-most expensive sale of Monterey Car Week.

Lot 340: 1979 BMW M1

Sold for $516,500

Chassis no. 4301011; Engine no. M88214. Dark blue metallic over black with pattern cloth inserts. Older restoration, #3+ condition.

Equipment: 3453cc/277hp inline-six, 5-speed, OZ wheels, power windows, original push-button radio.

Condition: The 11th BMW M1 produced and one of the three initial press cars. Restored by marque specialists in Germany in the 2010s. The paint has some fading and light dispersion from imperfections. Plastic surrounds for the door locks are oxidized and the black trim around the rear quarter windows clearly has thick spots. The driver’s seat has some wear to the bolsters. Represented as being previously restored, it appears to have been a while ago; however, the car has been used, not abused.

Bottom line: The M1 was something of a dead end in that BMW didn’t further pursue any mid-engine designs, but it was the first M car and one of the most exciting cars to wear the beachball badge. And, since barely 450 were built, collectors clamor for it. This one sold for an appropriate number relative to its condition.

Lot 359: 2008 Lamborghini Murciélago LP640 Roadster

Sold for $1,352,500

Chassis no. ZHWBU47M78LA02880. Oro Adonis over Sand leather. Original, #2- condition.

Equipment: 6496cc/640hp V-12, 6-speed manual, black wheels, Pirelli P Zero tires, optional carbon fiber package, body-color calipers.

Condition: Represented as one of eight U.S.-market examples sold with a manual and the only one in these colors. Showing 6276 miles. Last service performed in July 2023. Paint and body are in extremely good condition with the only flaws being small chips on the inner rear wheel well lip behind the driver’s side tire. The interior shows minor wear from use. Otherwise this is a well-kept example.

Bottom line: The body style, the transmission, the colors, the mileage . . . this car was always going to bring a lot of money. And given the hot streak that stick-shift Lamborghinis have been on for the past couple of years, a record price was expected. And it happened.

Lot 341: 1964 Shelby Cobra 289

Sold for $2,287,500

Chassis no. CSX2227; Engine no. 3493. Silver Mink over red. Visually maintained, largely original, #3- condition.

Equipment: 289cid/271hp V-8, 4-speed, Stewart Warner gauges, mag wheels with Goodyear Polyglas GT tires, includes the original build sheet, competition trophies, and “Snake Charmer” team shirt.

Condition: Offered by the family of the original owner, Hank Williams. Not that Hank Williams, the country singer, but the car still had a cool history. This Hank Williams was a sports car enthusiast looking to buy a Corvette to replace his Austin-Healey. But, being a black man in the mid-1960s, he had a hard time getting any kind of service at Chevrolet dealerships. So he went to a Ford store and bought a 289 Cobra instead. Williams drove it to work during the week and raced it on weekends. He also repainted it from Princess Blue to Silver Mink (a Lincoln color).

Nobody else drove or raced the car during its more than 130,000 miles, and Williams lived to be 99. The paint is faded and thinning in areas and worn away at the top of the grille. The chrome is faded and the paint on the wheels is chipped. The engine compartment is faded and aged and the interior shows significant wear, but there are no rips or tears to the upholstery. A wonderful preservation car with a great story. The “NO KIT” license plate is also a great touch.

Bottom line: This is one of those sales that at first glance doesn’t make a ton of sense. The price here is about twice that of a perfect 289 Cobra, and it bought a shabby, high-mileage one instead. But the story is a cool one, and the opportunity to buy an unrestored and unmolested Cobra from the original owner is the kind of thing that, at this point, may never happen again. Even in a mixed market, exceptional and unique cars sell well.

Lot 308: 1989 Lamborghini LM002

Sold for $703,500

Chassis no. ZA9LU45A4KLA12141. Olive green over creme leather. Cosmetic restoration, #3+ condition.

Equipment: 5167cc/444hp V-12, 5-speed, Pirelli Scorpion tires, custom gold wheels, wooden dash.

Condition: Cosmetically restored in original colors. Good fresh-looking paint with a few small chips throughout. Bumpers and grille look older. Unrestored but maintained engine. Loose weatherstripping. Mostly beautiful interior other than a faded tach. These gold Miura-inspired wheels look spectacular, but the left rear has a few chips in it. Striking from a short distance, especially in these colors, but definitely not flawless.

Bottom line: This Rambo Lambo sold via the RM Sotheby’s “Shift/Monterey” online-only auction in 2020 for $275,000, but that was before its most recent cosmetic restoration, so it was an appropriate price at the time. Fresh paint and cool custom wheels make a world of difference, apparently, because at Monterey ’24 it beat all expectations and soared to a new record price for an LM002. It beat the old record by 48 percent, and is 60 percent higher than the model’s condition #1 value in the Hagerty Price Guide.

Lot 134: 1954 Allard K3 Roadster

Sold for $84,000

Chassis no. K33277. Red over tan leather piped in red. Older restoration, #3+ condition.

Equipment: 331cid Cadillac V-8, floor-shift 3-speed manual with the shifter between the driver and the door, wire wheels, side exhaust, Michelin tires, wind wings, banjo steering wheel.

Condition: One of 63 K3 roadsters. Good older paint with some chips ahead of the hood from it rubbing against the body when raised. Sound chrome. Dull windshield frame. Worn steering wheel but mostly good interior. Very rare and lesser known than the J2 or J2-X, but has the same Allard formula of monster American V-8 in a light and simple British roadster.

Bottom line: Allard may have built barely five dozen K3s, but there were two on offer at RM Sotheby’s this year, with a blue Chrysler Hemi-powered car in similar condition selling the same day as this red Cadillac-powered one. That means 3.23 percent of all Allard K3s ever built sold within an hour of each other. The Chrysler-powered one brought $89,600 while this one brought $84,000, both well below estimate and what we would have expected given the equipment and condition.

Lot 206: 2003 Lotus Esprit V8 SE “Final Edition”

Sold for $184,800

Chassis no. SCCDC08213HA10574. Black over black leather. Original, #2- condition.

Equipment: 3.5L/350hp twin-turbocharged V-8, 5-speed, Toyo tires, carbon fiber splitter, Alpine stereo.

Condition: One of 79 Final Editions and one of four finished in black. Represented with 12,020 miles. A few minor scratches and chips on the nose and mirrors. A lightly used Esprit.

Bottom line: Esprits, even the later twin-turbo V-8 models, are conspicuously low-priced compared to other more common mid-engine exotics of the era that offer similar performance. These rare “Final Edition” cars, however, carry a premium of tens of thousands of dollars even though they’re nearly identical to a base car. This one, which was bid to $108K on Bring a Trailer last December but didn’t sell, brought a strong price for the condition and mileage—and roughly twice what a base car would normally sell for, so the Final Edition premium is definitely real.

Lot 335: 1966 Shelby Cobra 427 S/C

Sold for $3,030,000

Chassis no. CSX3036. Black over black leather. Older restoration, #2- condition.

Equipment: 427cid/485hp V-8, 4-speed, Smiths gauges, reproduction Halibrand centerlock wheels, side exhaust, roll bar, wood-rim steering wheel, offered after 25 years of ownership, includes history file from SCCA and spares.

Condition: One of 29 427 S/Cs (Semi-Competition) built. Originally finished in Ivy Green and sold in California. Its first owner quickly sold it on and so did its second owner in Oregon after his wife and kids had both burned their legs on the side pipes. Run in SCCA regional events in 1969–70. Later sold in 1981 to Shelby historian Ken Eber and restored in the 1990s. Excellent body. The paint has some minor light dispersion under direct light. The engine compartment is very well detailed and along with the excellent underbody shows little use. The interior, too, shows very little wear. An excellent example of a 427 S/C Cobra only needing moderate paint correction to be perfect.

Bottom line: In the hierarchy of big-block Cobras, the cars fitted with the cheaper, lower-output 428 sit at the bottom. Cars fitted with the racier 427 are a step up, and most valuable of all are the Competition and Semi-Competition cars like this one. The S/C is essentially a detuned and street-converted competition car. Many kit Cobras go for the S/C’s fat-fender and side pipe look, but finding a genuine one for sale is rare. Another did pop up for auction earlier this year, though, and it brought a similar $2,750,000.

Lot 256: 1993 Bugatti EB110 SS Prototype

Sold for $2,150,000

Chassis no. ZA9AB02X0PCD39004. Grigio Chiaro Metallic over black leather. Original, #2- condition.

Equipment: 3498cc/650hp quad-turbo V-12, 6-speed.

Condition: The first Super Sport version built. Used as a promo car. Participated in Bugatti testing at the Nardo Ring, sold to racer Sokichi Shikiba in Japan. Clutch and brake service in 2022 and new fuel tanks in February 2024. Very good paint and body. The underbody is dirty and needs a full detail. The interior shows little usage aside from some imprinting on the seats. A quite good EB110 SS with interesting history.

Bottom line: Just 139 EB 110s of all types were built before the resurrected Bugatti company went bust in 1995. Once something of an oddball exotic that traded in the mid-six-figure range, they’ve gained a bigger following as stick-shift supercars in general have surged and as the latest Rimac-owned iteration of Bugatti maintains its relevance. In this car’s case, the prototype status didn’t really have an impact. It’s an EB 110 SS in #2- condition sold for condition #2- money.

Lot 357: 1955 Ferrari 410 Sport Spider by Scaglietti

Sold for $12,985,000

Chassis no. 0592CM; Engine no. 0592CM. Red with blue and white stripe over red. Competition restoration, #2 condition.

Equipment: 4961cc V-12, 5-speed, painted wire wheels.

Condition: Started off as a factory development car before selling to construction tycoon and race team owner Tony Parravano, who commissioned this one-off Scaglietti spider coachwork. Carroll Shelby drove it to a win at the 1956 Palm Springs Road Races. When Parravano fled the country to escape the tax man, the Ferrari went with him and it had a renewed racing career south of the border. Restored by marque specialists in 2017 and shown at Pebble Beach in 2018. It’s still fresh-looking, without being overdone.

Bottom line: This car’s history, beauty and monster V-12 pushed it to an unsurprising eight-figure price, as almost any big-engined ’50s Ferrari sports racer is bound to be worth this much. Another 410 Sport Spider with even better history (driven by Shelby, Fangio, Gregory, Gonnier, Daigh, Ginther) sold for $22M at this sale two years ago.

Lot 346: 1960 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider

Sold for $17,055,000

Chassis no. 1795GT; Engine no. 1795GT. Grigio over black leather with black top. Older restoration, #2- condition.

Equipment: 2953cc/240hp competition-spec V-12, 4-speed, Ansa exhaust, factory hardtop, Borrani wire wheels, wood-rim steering wheel, tools.

Condition: Desirable short-wheelbase (SWB) California Spider with competition-spec engine and hardtop, and it was the very first SWB California Spider built. Shown at the 1960 Geneva motor show. Never offered publicly for sale before. No major paint or chrome issues, but there is some road dirt underneath as well as light but visible wear to the seats. An important, gorgeous car.

Bottom line: And the most expensive car of the week. Another SWB Cal Spider failed to sell at a $13.5M high bid and a few of the week’s other big cars failed to meet reserve. $17M is clearly more money than most can fathom spending on a car, but it’s worth pointing out that this is only the seventh-most expensive Cal Spider ever sold at auction and only the 20th-most expensive Ferrari.