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Your weekly look at the world of collector cars. This week: Toyota wins Le Mans again, a strong run of auction results led by a sell-out at Bonhams, the booming market for reimagined classic Ferraris, and the build-up to Monterey — headlined by a ~$3M Maserati.
Hello and welcome. It's Thursday, June 18. I'm Sharon, and this is Auto Market from ALT/FNDATA, your weekly look at the world of collector cars. It has been a busy week, from the result at Le Mans to a wave of reimagined classic Ferraris and the build-up to Monterey. Let's get into it.
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We start on the track, with the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which is really two races in one. There is the battle for the overall win, fought by the fastest purpose-built prototype cars, and there is a separate class for production-based sports cars, known as GT3. Toyota won overall, its sixth victory at Le Mans, holding off its rivals across the full 24 hours, with Aston Martin also reaching the podium. In the GT3 class, Corvette came out on top. Away from the race itself, Koenigsegg made news of its own, setting a new top-speed record for a production car. Between the track and the test strip, the engineering contest at the very top of the car world is as intense as it has ever been.
To the salerooms, where it was a strong week. Bonhams held its National Automobile Museum sale and sold every lot on offer, a 100 percent result that speaks to deep demand for well-chosen cars. And RM Sotheby's closed its latest Sealed auction yesterday, an online sale built around sealed bids and headlined by a 1969 Lamborghini Miura. True to that format, the results were not disclosed. For a sense of where the Miura sits, the most recent example in the ALT/FNDATA database, a 1970 P400, sold for 1.7 million dollars at Mecum. And the single most valuable car in our database over the past 90 days is a 1966 Shelby 427 Cobra Roadster, which brought 1.8 million dollars, also at Mecum.
Looking ahead, the calendar is building toward Monterey Car Week in August, the biggest event on the collector-car calendar. RM Sotheby's has begun revealing its Monterey catalogue, and one lot we have been watching is a 1954 Maserati A6GCS, a class-winning race car heading to Broad Arrow with an estimate of nearly 3 million dollars. For context, the last 1954 A6GCS in our database sold for 2.3 million dollars, so that estimate marks a step up.
The clearest theme in the market this week is the rise of the restomod, the modern reinterpretation of a classic car, and it is especially strong with Ferrari. A company called Evoluto has built a reimagined version of the 1990s Ferrari F355, limited to just 55 examples. GTO Engineering is offering a revival of the legendary Ferrari 250 GT short-wheelbase Berlinetta. There is a Jean Sage take on the Ferrari F40, lighter and more powerful than the original. And even the Dino 246 is getting the treatment, in a reworked Evo version. None of these are cheap, but they answer a real desire: the look and the soul of a vintage car, with the reliability and the performance of a modern one.
On the new-car side, Bentley has unveiled a one-of-100 bespoke edition of its Continental GT S, hand-finished by its Mulliner division, and it plans to release a new limited version every year, a clear play for the collector who wants exclusivity straight from the factory. And in the realm of the truly extravagant, Maybach is lending its name to a so-called Gigayacht and a members' club, to be built by the German shipyard Lloyd Werft, taking the Mercedes-Maybach name well beyond the driveway.
A car with remarkable provenance is heading to market: the Jensen Interceptor once owned by Led Zeppelin's drummer, John Bonham, is going to auction. Provenance like this reliably adds a premium, because the buyer is paying for the story as much as the steel. You see it across the board, from rock-and-roll history to the so-called Astrovettes, the Corvettes once owned by NASA astronauts, which remain among the most sought-after provenance cars of all.
One signal worth noting from the wider industry. At the Hong Kong auto show this week, Chinese automakers made a clear push to court wealthy buyers, including in right-hand-drive markets. It is a sign of how aggressively China's carmakers are moving upmarket, and of where the competition for affluent customers is heading next.
For now, all roads lead to Monterey in August, and we will be tracking the consignments closely as the major houses reveal their catalogues.
That's your week in the collector-car market for Thursday, June 18.
For insights on the data behind today's stories, the ALT/FNDATA membership gives you access to a rich library of market data dashboards, reports and insights. Get started at altfndata.com/membership or reach us anytime at info@altfndata.com.
I'm Sharon, from ALT/FNDATA. Open Bid is back tomorrow morning at 6 Eastern, and Closing Price is this evening at 5. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and leave us a five-star rating.
