Highs and Whys in Monterey

Prices of desirable Ferraris are well past their 1989 peaks, but a record number of high-end cars were on offer in Monterey

by Michael Sheehan

The 2008 Monterey auctions brought together the largest collection of high-dollar collector cars ever offered anywhere on one weekend. Four of the auction houses featured multiple top-level GT Ferraris, with seven 275 GTBs, four Daytona Spyders, three Lussos, and almost four dozen more Ferraris crossing the block over three days.

The auction houses know what is currently “hot” on the market, and so all four worked hard to fill their auctions with those models, the GT Ferraris. Of the 58 Ferraris on offer, 56 were street cars, with only 166 MM s/n 0066M and 500 TRC s/n 0670 MDTR as the token even-numbered race cars on offer. 166MM s/n 0066M sold, 500 TRC s/n 0670 MDTR did not.

The weekend’s total was $139 million in sales, and it was obvious that just as Monterey had the largest number of high-end Ferraris ever on offer, Monterey also had the...