While the year is far from over, the third major collector car auction event in the United States is behind us. Almost 100,000 people poured into Monterey Car Week for the many shows, reveals and of course the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. As a result, 5 of the biggest auction houses all had a presence there. In today’s Market Monday, I’m providing an overview of the results from Monterey 2024 plus my top 10 Porsches to hammer sold during the week.

The total number of lots on offer in Monterey totaled approximately 1,134 cars, ranging from pre-war examples to the most modern supercars. To keep myself sane, I track a cross-section of about 40 cars that I find interesting, then use those results to generate insights to share with you. Sell-through-rate is based on full data.

Overall, it appears that the prediction I made last week based on results from RM Sotheby’s Tegernsee Auction was on target. I think we saw some realistic reserves for the most part, resulting in a pretty decent sell-through for the big houses. I believe the industry is realizing that the market is soft and losses are expected relative to the last few years. There were plenty of reserve-not-met cars and some new records, but overall the high STR is due to reserves set below the low estimates, sellers lifting the reserve during the sale or the houses making up the difference.

Below you will find high-level results for each auction house. Most post-Monterey news coverage will highlight the top sales from the week, so I’ve decided to go a little deeper and feature the highest and lowest-selling Porsches from each tent. This is Wolf and Mare after all!

2024 marks the 27th year for RM Sotheby’s at Monterey. As in most years the auction house managed to collect a stunning selection of 200+ cars for sale in the Monterey Conference Center. RM Sotheby’s takes the top spot this year with an overall sell-through rate of an impressive 84.7%. However, it’s important to note that every car crossing the block on Thursday was a no-reserve auction. RM had 31 no-sales in total during the rest of the week.

Hailing from the White Collection, this rare one-of-55 Porsche 911 Carrera RS 3.0s was once owned by Chuck Stoddard, a well-known figure in the Porsche parts business. A beautifully preserved example, it sold for $2,370,000—well over its $1.8M high estimate.

This 1987 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet sold for $158,800 including buyer’s premium. I’d consider that very well sold against an estimate of $90-120K, even given it was a one-owner, very original car with 59,000 miles on the odometer.

The official auction house of the Pebble Beach Concours, Gooding & Company return to the Parc du Concours in Monterey 2024 with around 185 of the best cars from across a diverse spectrum of vehicles including an all original and unrestored Lamborghini Miura. Gooding’s sell-through-rate was a solid 76.8%, with 43 cars failing to meet reserve on Friday and Saturday.

One of the top sellers from the weekend, this is the first Porsche 935 built by the factory and driven to victory at Watkins Glen in 1976. It’s an extremely uncommon opportunity to own a Porsche werks 935 as a private owner. The monied folks at Monterey fought for the privilege, with the car selling for $4,295,000. This is, notably, below the low estimate of $4.5M.

This “cheap” sale at Gooding & Company was a rare 1974 2.7 Carrera Targa in a lovely color of Salmon Metallic. A true collectible, only 246 Targa Carreras were built out of the 528 made for the US in 1974. This one was offered at no reserve and sold for $145,600 against an estimate of $150-180K.

Given this auction house has had a slew of D-grade sell-through-rate results from its other auctions this year, a 75.2% STR in Monterey 2024 is pretty good, all things considered. The house made more money last year due to a standout listing, but not every year can be a news-maker; there are only so many $30M 1967 Ferrari 412p race cars in the world. Bonhams sold 79 out of 105 cars in 2024.

A lovely restoration in beautiful colors of Aquamarine Blue over red, this 1957 Speedster sold for $472,500 or just shy of its $475K low estimate. From a market perspective, this felt on-the-money to me for a base, non-Super 57 Speedster.

Something must have been in the water on this one. A decidedly average condition car, this Wide Turbo Look 1986 Porsche 911 3.2 Carrera Cabriolet sold for a ludicrous $92,400 against an optimistic estimate of $75-100K. I guess someone just had to have it — but I wouldn’t have bid over $60,000 for this car.

While Broad Arrow did well in terms of dollars, the sell-through-rate at the Monterey Jet Center was a very average 75.6%. The Hagerty-owned auction house rustled up some 156 beautiful collector cars to offer in Monterey 2024. 118 of those cars managed to receive bids high enough to sell. 

One of only 9 GT1s constructed and painted in an eye-catching livery, this 1997 Porsche GT1 Rennversion has an amazing history. 90s cars are getting hotter and hotter, and this just might be the new 935 for a certain generation. Being the 993-version without the later 996-gen headlights probably doesn’t hurt. This beauty is not only the top-selling Porsche from Broad Arrow, but the most expensive Porsche in all of Monterey. It hammered for $7,045,000, well shy of its $8.5M low estimate.

This car was a driver-quality example of the least desirable longhood 911 variant from 1973. Very nice condition cars have busted the $100K mark this year, but this one was rough around the edges with a love it or hate it color of Aubergine (I love it). The car sold for $85,120 including buyer’s premium, or a single Benjamin over its low estimate.

As is typical, Mecum blew the other houses out of the water in terms of the number of lots and the duration of its auction in Monterey. Featuring over 486 collector car lots over the entire week, the auction giant managed to sell only 60% of those cars. The green Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing I featured last week didn’t find a buyer, but their very special 1969 Ford GT40 Lightweight did. 

While this is a top seller for Porsche at Mecum, it’s only because the 1959 Porsche 718 RSK at the same sale didn’t find a buyer. That car was bid to $3.2M. This lovely little Ruby Red Fuhrmann 4-cam Carrera 2 B coupe sold for a scandalously low $390,000. Apparently it was enough for the seller. Are 4-cam Carreras going to get cheap again due to the waning interest in 60s cars and the notoriously expensive upkeep? I hope so!

This 958.1 generation Cayenne was painted in a very Ferrari-like shade of Sand Yellow from the factory and displays questionable taste in interior color and trim selection (in my humble opinion). The car nevertheless sold for $51,700 against an estimate of $50-60K.

Hats off to RM Sotheby’s for running just a stellar auction at Monterey this year. After being booted from Amelia Island, it’s clear the auction house is determined to let the industry (and especially Broad Arrow) know that it is here to stay—nay, that it intends to dominate.

It’s nice to see Bonhams pull out a more positive result than it had in Amelia Island, at least in terms of sell-through-rate, even though it’s far less than their money bin-filling sale in 2023.

So what do the Monterey sales say about the rest of 2024? Well, it should be no real surprise at this point that the market is softening. While some record sales have been made, it’s only because the past few years created an unsustainable run-up across the entire market relative to 2019 and earlier. 

If you’re thinking of selling before the end of the year, do so only because you need to stop the bleeding and get liquid. You’ve already missed the market high in 2022. We still have the rest of summer and the beautiful Fall season in which to enjoy your car before winter storage.

If you’re thinking of buying, I’d wait until late fall to pick up a deal, as cars start to be put away for hibernation until the Spring selling season. That’s sound advice in any year, but especially this year. January may look pretty far away to someone who needs to liquidate.

Wolf and Mare provides car finding, appraisals, and auction services for buyers and sellers of collector European cars. If you’re interested in acquiring an overseas car, give us a call or drop a line!