numbers from its flagship Pebble Beach Auctions – in total, 108 of the 140 lots found new homes (that’s a 77-percent sell-through rate, the highest of all the Car Week sales in 2019) over the course of the two-day sale, 17 of which surpassed the 1m-dollar mark. 

In total, the Los Angeles-based auction house grossed 76.8m dollars – that’s some 38m dollars down on last year’s sale, reflecting the market-wide downward trend on the Monterey Peninsula this year. 

While the fabulous grey-over-green Ferrari California Spider’s 9m-dollar hammer price (9.905m dollars incl. premium) fell well short of its estimate of 11–13m dollars, it still came out on top for Gooding. In fact, Ferraris rounded out the top four: a deal was agreed for the Pininfarina-styled 250 GT Series 1 Cabriolet shortly after the sale at 6.8m dollars all in, while the ex-Niki Lauda 312T Formula 1 car reached 6m dollars with the buyer’s premium and the 250 GT ‘Tour de France’ made 5.1m dollars. 

It wasn’t all plain sailing, however: notable no-sales included the 1962 Ferrari 400 Superamerica SWB Coupé Aerodinamica, 1997 Ferrari F50 and 1953 Alfa Romeo 6C 3000 CM Superflow IV, the latter of which was bid to 4.3m dollars, 1.7m dollars short of its low estimate. 

Photos: Rémi Dargegen for Classic Driver © 2019