For many, Monterey Car Week is a bucket list event that has to be ticked off at least once in a lifetime. For others, the annual pilgrimage has become an unmissable highlight—a fixture so ingrained in our calendar that it’s become like Christmas. There’s just something about it that gets under the skin, a Mecca for car enthusiasts that draws us back time and time again like migrating birds. From the early morning dawn patrol at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance to the Star Spangled Banner echoing around Laguna Seca and the hair-raising excitement of a headline collector car crossing the block under the lights of the Portola Hotel, the magic of Monterey never disappoints—and never seems to dim.  

For the collector car world, Monterey Car Week is our World Cup—a place where the best of the best come to fight for the greatest prize, to socialize with like-minded people, and of course, to do business. The event always pulls in the biggest collectors, the most accomplished restorers, and the wealthiest buyers—a heady cocktail that often leads to history being made in the auction rooms. With few notable exceptions, the biggest and most significant auction results all seem to happen on the Monterey Peninsula, with countless world records having been posted over the years.  

Of the auction events that take place on the peninsula, RM Sotheby’s Monterey sale has grown to become the most significant, featuring the most valuable and special collector cars and recording the highest total sales figures, year-in year-out. With a catalogue of unmatched quality and depth and several model world records posted each year, there is no better place to sell or to buy.  

To mark this year’s event, we thought we would look back at some of the biggest results from RM Sotheby’s flagship event.  

10. 1964 Ferrari 250 LM by Scaglietti - $17,600,000 USD

The 2015 Monterey Car Week was one to remember for RM Sotheby’s, with the spectacular Pinnacle Portfolio setting the standard for a single-day, single-vendor auction by selling for $75.4M and RM Auto Restoration scooping its sixth Best of Show award at the prestigious Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.  

One of the standout lots from The Pinnacle Portfolio was arguably one of the best examples of Ferrari’s legendary mid-engined racer, the 250 LM. The 23rd of just 32 examples built, it served as the show car at Earls Court in 1966 and went on to be successfully campaigned by Ron Fry, David Skailes, and Jack Maurice, with countless first place finishes to its name. In later life the car would form a cornerstone of the renowned Matsuda Collection in Japan, and when it crossed the block in Monterey it fetched a deserved $17,600,000 USD, setting a new auction record for the model.  

Fascinatingly, it wasn’t the top seller from the collection…  

9. 1960 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider by Scaglietti - $17,055,000 USD

RM Sotheby’s flagship North American auction has served as a barometer for the health of the collector car hobby for decades, and though spectacular results have been achieved elsewhere in recent years—most notably Germany, with the sale of two unrepeatable Mercedes-Benz racing cars—Monterey still manages to be the premier location to buy and sell the very best.  

So it proved last year, when the very first Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider built took a starring role on the peninsula. As the first of its type, the car was shown at the 1960 Geneva International Motor Show and came equipped from the factory with a competition-specification engine, covered headlights, and factory removable hardtop. It was offered in its original delivery colors and directly from long-term ownership, having never previously been offered for sale publicly.  

The 250 GT SWB California Spider ultimately sold for $17,055,000 USD, proving to be the top-selling car among all the Monterey auctions, while at the same event RM Sotheby’s claimed new world records for no fewer than 16 models, including the Ferrari F50.  

8. 1994 McLaren F1 ‘LM-Specification’ - $19,805,000 USD

Thanks to the halo effect of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, Monterey Car Week is more closely associated with pre-war coachbuilt beauties than groundbreaking supercars, but if there’s one modern car that deserves to be discussed among Alfa Romeo 8Cs and Ferrari 250 GTOs, it’s the McLaren F1—though that has as much to do with the model’s auction pedigree as it does its performance figures. Since the turn of the millennium, the McLaren F1 has enjoyed a steady increase in value and, more often than not, Monterey has been where that bar is set.  

Of the 64 roadgoing examples built, few are more desirable than the brace of McLaren F1s that returned to the Woking Factory to be upgraded to LM specification, complete with unrestricted GTR racing engines and the Extra-High Downforce Kit. The first of those two examples was sold by RM Sotheby’s in 2015, with the stunning example from The Pinnacle Portfolio fetching $13,750,000 and becoming the most valuable British car ever sold at auction. The trend continued four years later, when in 2019, its sister car—chassis 018—broke all model records, selling for an incredible $19,805,000 USD under the stars at the Portola Hotel.  

Before the Ferrari 250 GTO, there was the ‘Immortal 2.9’—Alfa Romeo’s legendary pre-war supercar. Combining race-honed technology with some of the most beautiful coachwork of the day, the Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 was nothing short of a masterpiece, featuring independent suspension all-round and a jewel of a straight-eight, twin-supercharged engine that made it faster than almost anything else on the road.  

Only 32 of these magnificent machines were ever built, and until 2016 not a single example had been offered at public auction this century. That all changed when chassis 412041 crossed the block in Monterey as one of the undeniable stars of the annual RM Sotheby’s sale. Battling for the spotlight with the 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans-winning Jaguar D-Type, the Alfa Romeo fell just short with a final sale price of $19,800,000. However, it nonetheless became the most valuable pre-war car ever sold, underscoring not only the enduring appeal of these most incredible machines, but also the magic of Monterey to produce record-breaking results.  

When it comes to Jaguar, there are very few models more special than the D-Type, the 1950s sports racer that propelled the Coventry firm to the very forefront of endurance racing. Among that significant cohort, chassis XKD 501—outright winner of the 1956 24 Hours of Le Mans—is arguably the most sought-after.  

During that race, Scotsmen Ron Flockhart and Ninian Sanderson battled tooth and nail with the factory Aston Martin DB3S of Stirling Moss and Peter Collins, fighting both terrible conditions and one of the most gifted drivers of his generation. By the time they reached the chequered flag, XKD 501 had covered 2,507 miles at an average speed of 104.47 mph.  

The saleroom battle that followed 60 years later was almost as hard-fought, with interest in the Ecurie Ecosse icon—probably the best preserved of all Le Mans-winning D-Types—reaching fever pitch. When the gavel finally fell the D-Type had sold for $21,780,000 USD, making it the most expensive Jaguar and British car ever sold at auction.  

5. 1963 Aston Martin DP215 Grand Touring Competition Prototype - $21,455,000 USD 

Just 12 months after RM Sotheby’s posted a new world record price for an Aston Martin (more on that to come) another hugely significant David Brown-era car crossed the block in Monterey—this time a machine of even greater rarity.  

The 1963 Aston Martin DP215 Grand Touring Competition Prototype was the only of its type ever created and followed in the footsteps of the DP212 and DP214. As the Works entry for the 1963 Le Mans Prototype Class, the car truly set the bar for what the Aston Martin engineers could do. Wholly unique it became the last racing car built by the factory, and the ultimate evolution of the Aston Martin GT racers.  

Incredibly, the car was built in just two months, and when it made its Le Mans debut with Phil Hill and Lucien Bianchi it became the first car to officially break 300 km/h at the circuit, reaching a top speed of 198.6 mph in practice. It was six seconds a lap faster than the Ferrari 330 LMB running in the same class and 12 seconds a lap faster than the Ferrari 250 GTOs in the GT class, which no doubt contributed to its stellar performance at auction, where it eventually sold for $21,455,000 USD.  

There’s no better place to sell significant Ferrari sports cars than Monterey, a fact underlined in 2022 when a magnificent 1955 Ferrari 410 Sport Spider by Scaglietti crossed the auction block at RM Sotheby’s to the tune of $22,005,000 USD—more than doubling that year’s second-best result from Gooding & Co. Take a quick glance at chassis 0598 CM’s resume and it’s clear to see why.  

An argument could be made for this car being one of the most significant purpose-built Ferrari “big block” sports-racing prototypes from the 1950s, being one of just two Factory-campaigned 410 Sports equipped with a fire-breathing 24 spark plug 4.9-litre V-12 engine. As a Scuderia Ferrari team car, it was driven by Juan Manuel Fangio at the 1956 1000 KM Buenos Aires, and was later piloted by Carroll Shelby during his landmark 1956 and 1957 seasons when driving for the renowned Southern California-based team principal John Edgar. Shelby won more races as a driver in 0598 CM than any other car in his racing career, with eight wins and 10 podium finishes.  

Carroll Shelby perhaps put it best when he said: “Mr. Ferrari told me that this was the best Ferrari he ever built.” 

Monterey always attracts the best of the best, and never was that more true than in 2017, when one of the highlight lots was a 1965 Aston Martin DBR1. Without doubt the most special and sought-after of all Aston Martins, the DBR1 represents the pinnacle of the marque. This particular example was more special still, being the first of only five of its type to ever be built, with a list of former drivers including giants such as Roy Salvadori, Stirling Moss, Jack Brabham, and Carroll Shelby.  

Collectors predictably went crazy for the Aston Martin, which was subject to a protracted bidding war that went on for more than seven minutes. In the end, the winning bid came in via telephone, and by the end of the evening the car had sold for $22,550,000 USD, making it not only the most valuable Aston Martin to change hands, but the most expensive British car ever publicly sold.  

2. 1964 Ferrari 275 GTB/C Speciale by Scaglietti - $26,400,000 USD 

RM Sotheby’s 2014 Monterey auction was already shaping up to be one to remember as Steve McQueen’s Ferrari 275 GTB/4 sold for $10.2M, but it was another Ferrari that ultimately claimed the headlines later on that evening.  

Rarer than even the 250 GTO, the 1964 Ferrari 275 GTB/C Speciale was the machine brought in to replace that conquering hero and was, in almost every regard, a superior race car. Boasting independent rear suspension, a transaxle gearbox, lightweight aluminum coachwork, and a dry-sump 3.3-litre V-12 engine, the 275 GTB/C Speciale was destined for competition glory—were it not for the FIA. Still outraged by Enzo’s shenanigans with the 250 GTO and 250 LM, the organization refused homologation for the new car because it was so far underweight. And while they did eventually relent the following year, only one example—that hammered for $26,400,000 USD in Monterey—ever saw a competitive race, finishing third overall at the 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans.  

“The room went pin-drop silent as the price went to $24 million with a bid made by phone—and remained silent as Girardo pleaded with other bidders to speak now or forever hold their offers,” wrote Charles Fleming for the LA Times. “Already, the auction action at Monterey has exceeded expectations, and set a new high mark for the Monterey Car Week sales totals.” 

1. 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO by Scaglietti - $48,405,000 USD 

No marque seems to capture the magic of Monterey quite like Ferrari, and few cars produce a stir like the 250 GTO, which for many years took the laurels as the world’s most expensive car. That title has now been taken by the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé, but back in 2018, it was 250 GTO chassis 3413GT that reigned supreme after selling for $48,405,000 USD in Monterey.  

The car more than lived up to billing, being just the third of its type built and widely regarded as being among the most authentic and original of all 36 examples. It was also one of only four upgraded in-period to Series II GTO/64 specification, and had a lengthy competition career that included victory in the 1962 Italian GT Championship and class wins at the 1963 and 1964 Targa Florio.