In June, we looked at the opening wave of consignments and wrote that the Monterey 2026 auctions were shaping up as a blue-chip year — pre-war coachwork and historically significant machinery rather than the modern hypercars that had dominated the first half of 2026.
The Monterey 2026 auction results are in, and that call was half right in a way that turns out to be the more interesting outcome. It was not a rotation from one segment to the other. Both ran hot at the same time, and the week finished at $748 million against $432.7 million in 2025.
Monterey 2026 auction results: the headline numbers
| Metric | Monterey 2026 | Monterey 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Combined week total | $748 million | $432.7 million |
| Cars sold above $1 million | 130+ | — |
| Cars sold above $4 million | 32 | — |
| Cars sold above $10 million | 11 | — |
A 73 percent year-on-year increase is not a normal market movement, and it makes the Monterey 2026 auction results the strongest on record for the week. It is the kind of number that usually comes with an asterisk, and in this case there are two: one enormous charity lot, and an American record that nobody had priced in.
The record: a Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe at $42.9 million
The single biggest result of the week was a 1964 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe, chassis CSX2300, which sold at Gooding Christie’s Pebble Beach sale for $42,905,000 against a pre-sale estimate of $25 million or more.
It is now the most expensive American car ever sold at auction, and by a distance. The previous record was the $22 million paid for a 1935 Duesenberg SSJ in 2018 — this result nearly doubled it. It also cleared the standing Ferrari 250 GTO auction record by roughly $4.4 million, which is a headline the Shelby world will enjoy for some time.
The provenance explains the number. Only six Daytona Coupes were built. CSX2300 debuted at the 1964 Tour de France Automobile with Bob Bondurant and Jochen Neerpasch, contributed to Shelby’s 1965 FIA GT Championship, spent eight years racing in Japan, and was later personally bought back and repatriated by Carroll Shelby himself. It is the only Daytona Coupe Shelby personally owned, and the only one campaigned by a privateer in period.
That is about as close to un-substitutable as a car gets, and it is exactly the sort of lot the June preview expected to define the week. On that count, the read was correct.
The $40 million asterisk
The second-highest result of the week was a 2026 Ferrari Luce ‘Tailor Made’ at $40,000,000 through RM Sotheby’s, which set a public auction record for the most expensive new car.
Treat it separately from everything else on this page. It was a charity lot with the buyer’s premium waived, and Ferrari donated the entire proceeds to The Ferrari Foundation. Charity results are not market results — the bidder is buying access, philanthropy and a story alongside the car, and the price carries no information about what the next one is worth.
It is a real record and it belongs in the tally. It should not be used to value anything.
The modern hypercars did not cool off
This is where the June preview was wrong, and it is worth being direct about it.
The expectation was that after a winter of record-setting modern Ferrari results, Monterey would rotate toward older, more established material. Instead, RM Sotheby’s top ten — which alone accounted for more than $170 million across 199 lots — read like a modern Ferrari catalogue with a few classics attached.
| Lot | Result |
|---|---|
| 2026 Ferrari Luce ‘Tailor Made’ (charity) | $40,000,000 |
| 1996 McLaren F1 GTR | $34,655,000 |
| 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport | $18,705,000 |
| 2023 Ferrari Daytona SP3 | $17,825,000 |
| 1995 Ferrari F50 | $12,105,000 |
| 1985 Ferrari 288 GTO | $11,555,000 |
| 2003 Ferrari Enzo | $9,410,000 |
| 1935 Duesenberg Model JN Convertible Coupe | $9,080,000 |
| 2015 Ferrari LaFerrari | $8,695,000 |
| 1991 Ferrari F40 | $8,365,000 |
Six of those ten are Ferraris from the modern halo lineage — F40, F50, Enzo, LaFerrari, Daytona SP3, plus the 288 GTO that started the sequence. That is not a market rotating away from hypercars. That is the same buyers bidding in two rooms at once.
The 1996 McLaren F1 GTR at $34,655,000 is the result that connects both halves. It is a modern-era car by the standards of this market, a racing car by construction, and it set the public auction record for the most expensive British car. Blue-chip provenance and modern-hypercar desirability in a single lot.
House by house
| House | Venue | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Gooding Christie’s | Pebble Beach | $127.5 million; 28 cars above $1 million |
| RM Sotheby’s | Monterey | 199 lots; 67+ cars above $1 million; top ten alone above $170 million |
| Bonhams | Laguna Seca | ~$12 million; 79% sell-through |
| Broad Arrow | Quail Lodge | Totals not published at time of writing |
| Mecum | Monterey | Totals not published at time of writing |
Two notes on that table. Bonhams moved from Quail Lodge to Laguna Seca this year, running alongside the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, and its $12 million total reflects a smaller, more focused sale rather than a collapse — its 79 percent sell-through was healthy. Its top lot was a 2024 Bugatti Chiron Super Sport at $4,570,000.
For context on the trajectory, RM Sotheby’s Monterey sale totalled $165 million in 2025 and $161 million in 2024, both at 87 percent sell-through. The 2026 aggregate week figure is the outlier, not the house-level pattern.
What the preview got right, and what it missed
Right: the blue chips did define the week. The top result was a 1964 racing car with irreplaceable provenance, not a modern hypercar, and the pre-war and competition material that showed up in the early catalogues delivered.
Wrong: the framing of it as a shift. Reading consignment catalogues as a signal of where money is moving assumes a fixed pool of buyers choosing between segments. Monterey 2026 suggests the pool itself expanded. Both categories set records in the same week, and the total nearly doubled.
That is the more useful lesson for reading catalogues in future: consignment mix tells you what sellers believe, not what buyers will do.
What it means for buyers and sellers
- Strip the charity lot out of any average you calculate. A $40 million result with the premium waived distorts every week-level statistic it touches.
- Records were set at the very top, not across the board. Eleven cars cleared $10 million. That is a concentrated result, and it says more about the market for irreplaceable cars than about the mid-market.
- Provenance outperformed rarity. The Cobra was not just one of six; it was the one Shelby owned. That distinction was worth roughly double the previous American record.
- Sell-through, not the headline total, is the number to watch next year. Reading the Monterey 2026 auction results by aggregate alone hides how concentrated they were.
- Watch the mid-market separately. Bonhams at 79 percent and RM at 87 percent in prior years are the honest health indicators. Headline totals can be carried by a handful of lots.
- If you are consigning for 2027, the bar just moved. Estimates set against 2025 comparables are now stale at the top end, and buyers have seen what competitive bidding looks like.
For the reveals rather than the results, see our Monterey Car Week 2026 roundup covering the Gordon Murray S1, the Hennessey Blackbird and the McLaren McL 6GT. For the modern Ferrari run-up that set the stage for this week, see the 2026 Ferrari hypercar auction surge.
Frequently asked questions
How much did the Monterey 2026 auctions total?
The Monterey 2026 auction results totalled approximately $748 million across the week, up from $432.7 million in 2025. More than 130 cars sold above $1 million, 32 above $4 million and 11 above $10 million.
What was the top sale at Monterey 2026?
A 1964 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe, chassis CSX2300, sold at Gooding Christie’s for $42,905,000 — the most expensive American car ever sold at public auction. A 2026 Ferrari Luce ‘Tailor Made’ charity lot achieved $40,000,000 at RM Sotheby’s, and a 1996 McLaren F1 GTR sold for $34,655,000.
Why is the Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe worth $42.9 million?
Only six were built. CSX2300 raced at the 1964 Tour de France Automobile, contributed to Shelby’s 1965 FIA GT Championship, and was later personally repurchased and repatriated by Carroll Shelby. It is the only Daytona Coupe Shelby personally owned and the only one raced by a privateer in period.
Does the $40 million Ferrari Luce count as a market price?
No. It was a charity lot with the buyer’s premium waived and all proceeds donated to The Ferrari Foundation. It set a genuine public auction record for a new car, but charity results include a philanthropic component and should not be used to value comparable cars.
Which auction houses sell at Monterey Car Week?
Five major houses ran sales in 2026: RM Sotheby’s in Monterey, Gooding Christie’s at Pebble Beach, Broad Arrow at Quail Lodge, Bonhams at Laguna Seca and Mecum in Monterey.
Did modern hypercars underperform at Monterey 2026?
No. Six of RM Sotheby’s top ten results were modern-era Ferraris, including the Daytona SP3, F50, 288 GTO, Enzo, LaFerrari and F40. Blue-chip classics and modern hypercars set records in the same week rather than trading places.
When is Monterey Car Week 2027?
Monterey Car Week runs annually in mid-August on the Monterey Peninsula. The 2026 edition ran August 7–16, with the major auctions concentrated between August 13 and 16. Dates for 2027 follow the same pattern and are confirmed by the individual houses in the spring.
All results are hammer prices including buyer’s premium as reported by the auction houses and specialist trackers. Broad Arrow and Mecum week totals had not been published at the time of writing. This article was originally published as a consignment preview in June 2026 and was rewritten with the final Monterey 2026 auction results after the sales concluded.
Editor’s note on imagery: Exotic Car News does not publish AI-generated depictions of real vehicles. The images in this article are illustrations of the auction setting — a saleroom, telephone bidders, a concours lawn, a catalogue and covered cars awaiting preview. None depicts a specific car, lot or auction house.
