Bulls Pump Up Pebble Beach Auto Auctions to $469 Million Record

This year’s frontrunners parked on the 18th fairway of the storied golf course consisted primarily of ultra-rare pre-war and immediately post-war vehicles with long and complicated names, like a 1937 Talbot-Lago T150C-SS Figoni & Falaschi Teardrop Coupe, a 1930 Duesenberg J Graber Cabriolet, and a 1951 Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport Stabilimenti Farina Cabriolet.

Adorned with intricate hood ornaments in the shape of such things like large birds, women, and even divers, the heavy, large coaches evoke images of glorious pasts where mysterious saloons would sweep along the road in what must have seemed like otherworldly style, speed, and grace. Such vehicles were owned by only the richest and most powerful people of the day, like Indian maharaja and Hollywood stars.

The champion Duesenberg, for instance, had been ordered new in Paris by one Antonio Chopitea, a Peruvian sugar baron. The two-tone blue stunner with intricate French coachwork inside its cabin had then been shipped to the US, according to Hemmings, and subsequently dismantled in the 1960s. Its body and chassis were separated and sold to different owners before being reunited decades later in the three-year, prize-winning restoration undertaken by the current owners.

Held annually since 1950, the concours is the climax of Monterey Car Week, a five-day-long Super Bowl of sorts for car-lovers. Early events included specialty car shows highlighting offerings from the likes of Porsche and Ferrari, vintage car races, and dozens of new-car debuts. So many, in fact, that many automotive executives are calling Monterey Car Week the “new auto show.”

But the biggest draw for many comers were the auctions, which realized record sales this year.