RM Sotheby’s $239m Monterey Auction Total Sets New Record

An expanded three-day auction by RM Sotheby’s in Monterey finished with a staggering $239,258,340 in sales and set a new record for the highest grossing automotive auction ever held. 52 lots sold for over $1m and a strong 95% of all lots sold. The totals recorded on each night of the auction were quite impressive in themselves, with $9.9m achieved Thursday night, $7.8m on Friday and a massive $123.3m realized on Saturday.

RM Sotheby’s top sale and the highest recorded sale of Monterey Car Week in 2022 was the 1955 Ferrari 410 Sport Spider selling for $22,005,000. The rare example is just one of two factory-campaigned 410 Sports fitted with a 24-spark plug 4.9-L V12 engine and was driven by a plethora of motor racings finest including Juan Manuel Fangio, Carroll Shelby and Phil Hill among others.

Thursday evening’s top sale, the 1937 Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster, was the auctions second leading sale at $9,905,000. The rare long-tail, covered-spare Special Roadster was refinished in the 1950s but remains largely original and has covered less than 13,000 miles.

Landing in spot number three was the unique 1924 Hispano-Suiza H6C “Tulipwood” Torpedo that changed hands for $9,245,000. The Hispano with its mahogany coachwork created by Nieuport-Astra was commissioned by André Dubonnet and raced in the 1924 Targa Florio and Coppa Florio.

Additional top sales included a 1957 Ferrari 500 TRC Spider at $7.8m, a 1966 Ferrari 275 GTB/C selling for $7.6m and 1954 Ferrari 375 America Vignale Cabriolet also selling at $7.6m. Two more lots that sold for over $7m were the 1953 Ferrari 375 MM Spider and 1938 Talbot-Lago T150-C SS Teardrop Coupe by Figoni et Falaschi. The cars sold for $7,485,000 and $7,265,000 respectively.

Find complete results from RM Sotheby’s Monterey auction here