02 Monterey Car Week 2022 ... Auction Previews & Motorlux Jet Center Party

Monterey, 17th of August, 2022

The Monterey Car Week officially started with the opening of the major auction house previews. Every year the big auction companies have their flagship sale during car week and the turnover is a good part of the yearly revenue. And every year people enter the auction previews and wonder who will buy all these cars and whether the market can take this number of cars. And every year one is surprised about the amount of money that changed hands at the end of the week and experts comment how they saw this coming no matter what the result is.

And this year this might be even more true, especially looking at our first destination at the Portola Plaza in downtown Monterey where RM traditionally has their base for the week. In the ballrooms and the conference center the multimillion-dollar cars are lined-up as it would be the easiest to consign them.

This year is even more impressive as several collections are included into the sale like the Oscar Davis and the masterpieces of design collection of mainly pre-war coach-built cars. So, at the extended sale over 3 full auction days there will be several Mercedes-Benz straight eight to be sold in addition to the traditional strong Ferrari line-up spearheaded by the presumably most expensive car of the week, the Ferrari 410 Sport. In addition to the already impressive line-up for the actual auction there are two additional sealed biddings on the most iconic of the newer supercars, the McLaren F1 as well as at a Ferrari F40 competition that was hot-roded to even more impressive power outputs in the region of 1000 hp.

Tomorrow will be one of this week�s highlight as we go out for the Pebble Beach Tour d´Elegance. Although shortened and without the lunch stop in Carmel that attracted hordes of people in the past who did not want to buy a ticket for the actual concours it gives a great first impression of this year�s show field. The loop at 17-miles drive will also offer a spectacular background for taking pictures

Leaving Monterey to Pebble Beach we went to the official auction house of the car week, the Gooding & Company Pebble Beach Auction. A little bit less posh than the ballroom a few minutes before the cars of Gooding are presented in a tent. A little bit of hectic occurred this morning as for the first time in years the car week saw some actual rain leaving a few of the open cars disappear under a cover for the early morning until the sun was out again. The offering of Gooding is a little bit more diverse than the one of RM and there is very much something for every taste ranging for the very elegant Bugatti T57 SC Atalante to the various Porsches Gooding is known for, including a nice RSK, a 908/02 Flunder as well as a modern RS Spyder. Of particular interest as also a pair of Bentleys, a very well patinated 4.5 Litre Blower with original VdP body as well as the famous Woolf Barnato Honeymoon 8 Litre.

After picking up the credentials for the Sunday concours we went to the new Motorlux Jet Center Party. Although actually not new the lifestyle party was sold last year by McCall to Hagerty who took the event to a new high. In association with their auction house Broad Arrow the show was very nicely set up and improved massively on the food and dinking side. Much more sponsors and chefs had their food and drinks on display offering a wide range of culinary pleasures without the usual cues on every offering. So, this year one did not need to leave hungry and with many wines, beers, cocktails and spirits offered the atmosphere was very relaxed. So, the Motorlux party certainly was a great way to kick off the car week and many of the visitors will be seen again at the Quail on Friday as this addresses the same people who might have an interest in cars but who could also have a good time if this is of lesser interest.