A show that sets the market for classic cars
About 20 late-’60s Ford Mustangs are hauling around a tight turn at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, near Monterey, California.
Most of these cars are being driven by their owners, but some owners hire professional racers.
“It would be unfair to say that everybody here is really rich, because there are a lot of people who have owned their cars a really long time,” says Automobile Magazine writer Jamie Kitman. “But there’s also plenty of super-duper millionaires.”
These are super-duper millionaires to whom luxury brands want to sell their cars. So the companies have hauled out an arsenal of their own antiques and latest models for the Concours d’Elegance, aka the Pebble Beach Car Show, a four-day celebration on California’s Monterey Peninsula.
“There isn’t any other place in the country that has a concentration of people that are affluent automotive enthusiasts,” says Kim McCullough,vice president of marketing for Jaguar Land Rover North America.
McCullough wouldn’t say how many dollars this event could bring in for her company, but it’s pretty clear how much cash is being tossed around at the classic car auction happening at Pebble Beach.
The highest-valued car here is a 1962 Ferrari, estimated to fetch $14 million to $16 million.
“It’s a very wild and important Ferrari,” says David Gooding, founder and president of Gooding & Company, the host of the auction. The prices battled out here will drive the overall classic car market. Values have doubled in the past decade, but Gooding says don’t get into it for the investment.
“You should buy it because you love it, because you want to use it. you want to show it or vintage race it,” he says. “Or just have it at home and stare at it.”
The 1962 Ferarri, by the way, went for $16.5 million.
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