Classic car sales stall in Monterey auctions as new generation takes charge
Auction sales during Monterey Car Week fell 3% from last year, as a shift from older to newer cars left a pileup of unsold classics from the 1950s and 1960s.
Auction sales during Monterey Car Week fell 3% from last year, as a shift from older to newer cars left a pileup of unsold classics from the 1950s and 1960s.
Total sales at this year’s five car auctioneers in Monterey, California — RM Sotheby’s, Broad Arrow, Gooding & Company, Mecum and Bonhams — fell to $391.6 million this year from $403 million in 2023, according to Hagerty, the classic-car insurance company. That followed a decline of 14% last year compared with the peak of 2022.
Of the 1,143 cars up for sale, only 821 sold — marking a 72% sell-through rate, according to Hagerty. The average sale price was $476,965, down slightly from last year’s average of $477,866.
Experts say wealthy collectors still have plenty of money to spend and are feeling confident given the recent rise in the stock market, but the types of cars they want are changing. There were simply too many similar cars at too many auctions to generate strong prices and sales.
“It’s saturation,” said Simon Kidston, the founder of Kidston and a leading advisor to wealthy car collectors. “When I walked around the auctions and saw so much similar ‘product,’ I asked myself if any of them had thought about what they or their rivals already had consigned, and if the cars were vying for the same buyers. Add to that the fact that many entries had already been in dealer windows for months or years which always feels like sloppy seconds.”
Rating: 5