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Seven-figure cars highlight day one of RM's Monterey auction

RM Auctions is one of several houses holding auctions during the Monterey weekend, and Friday night's festivities got quite pricey. Seven-figure vehicles were not at all uncommon during the first day of the two-day event, with the 1953 Ferrari 375 MM Spider, seen above, crossing the block for $9,075,000.
Other big earners included a pair of rare Ferraris, a 1950 166 MM Barchetta and a 1955 750 Monza Spider, which took $3,080,000 and $4,070,000, respectively. Outside of the red Italians, a 1939 Mercedes-Benz 540K Special captured $7,480,000 while a stunning, color-appropriate 1955 Jaguar D-Type took $3,850,000. We've got images of these vehicles, and a few other stunning examples of last night's auction, in the gallery above.
Thought it seems impossible, tonight's auction is expected to see even more high-dollar action. The winner of the 2012 Pebble Beach Concours, a 1928 Mercedes-Benz 680S Torpedo Roadster is expected to command over $10 million. Also crossing the block will be a car we reported on a few weeks back - a supremely rare 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 NART Spyder. One of only 10 in the world, it's expected to take anywhere from $14 to $17 million when it hits the stage tonight.

1962 Ferrari 250 GTO for sale in Germany at $64 million

Prices keep climbing for the Ferrari 250 GTO with virtually no end in sight. In 1969 one sold for just $2,500, but by the 1980s they were trading for hundreds of thousands, then millions, then tens of millions to the point that the last last year, one was reported to have changed hands at $52 million. But now there's a GTO for sale in Germany that could eclipse even that gargantuan price tag.
Ferrari made 39 examples of the 250 GTO between 1962 and 1962, and the item listing on mobile.de doesn't give much in the way of specifics as to which exactly we're looking at. But last we checked, there were only two GTOs in Germany, and the other one was silver. That leaves chassis number 3809GT, which was delivered new in '62 to Switzerland and participated in numerous endurance races and hillclimb events throughout the early 60s. 3809GT has been owned until now by one Hartmut Ibing, who bought it in 1976 when values were in the tens of thousands, not tens of millions. Given how his asset has appreciated so dramatically, and with less than 10,000 miles on the odometers over 52 years, we could understand how Ibing would want to cash out.
Of course we could be mistaken and we could be looking at an entirely different example - the vast majority were, after all, painted red and fitted with blue upholstery just like this one - but either way, we're looking at a price tag of 47.6 million euros. That's nearly $64 million at today's rates, inclusive of Germany's 19 percent VAT rate that adds a staggering $10 million in taxes to the pre-tax price of 40 million euros, which comes in under $54 million but would still be the most ever paid for a GTO (or really, just about any car ever made).

Kimi Raikkonen returns to Ferrari

The so-called "silly season" in Formula One conjured up all kinds of rumors, and most of them revolved around Kimi Raikkonen. Would the 2007 World Champion stay at Lotus? Would he switch to Red Bull to replace Mark Webber? Would he return to Ferrari?
Well now we have the answer. Ferrari has confirmed that the Finn is heading back to Maranello, where he will partner with Fernando Alonso starting next season in a two-year deal. That means Felipe Massa, who has been at Ferrari since 2006 but has struggled to keep up the pace since his catastrophic crash in 2009, will need to find a new seat.
The announcement opens up a series of questions as a game of musical chairs commences. Where will Massa go? Who will fill Raikkonen's seat at Lotus? And will Alonso tolerate the team bringing in another former champion and serious contender to challenge his position as number one at the top team? We'll just have to wait and see, but the move in and of itself demonstrates a certain businesslike lack of personal emotion on Kimi's part, having been unceremoniously dumped by Ferrari three years ago to make way for Alonso. Head on down below for the rather Raikkonenly brief announcement.