$11.55 million 1964 Ferrari 250 LM highlights RM Auctions' first night in Monterey

Sat, 16 Aug 2014

Some of the biggest auto auctions of the year are held during the weekend of the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. Millionaires gather in hopes of outbidding their contemporaries for incredibly rare cars. As Bonhams' record sale on Thursday of a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO for $38 million showed, these days the world's most expensive vehicles are found at auctions, often with a prancing horse on the nose.

RM Auctions' Friday sale reinforced this even more when a 1964 Ferrari 250 LM topped the evening by bringing in $11.55 million, after the 10 percent commission. It wasn't the only million-dollar vehicle of the event, though. A 1965 Ford GT40 Roadster Prototype garnered $6.93 million, and a 1966 Shelby Cobra 427 brought $1.705 million. Even a classic 1948 Tucker 48 had a final price of $1.57 million.

Surprisingly, some rather new cars actually brought in quite big money, too. A 2013 Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Vitesse Le Ciel Californien sold for $2.42 million, and a 2006 Ford GT with just 13 miles sold for $407,000.

A few classic racers weren't quite able to nab a sale, though. A 1986 March 86C that won the Indy 500 stalled out at $1.55 million. That was also true of a 1986 Porsche 962 IMSA GTP where bidding reached $575,000 and a 1963 Lola Mk6 GT at $1.2 million.

RM has another night of auctions on Saturday, and there are likely to be even more million-dollar cars changing hands. Check out our gallery of Friday's highlights.

By Chris Bruce