$65 Million For 25 Cars: The “Pinnacle Portfolio” Sells At Pebble Beach

$65 Million For 25 Cars: The “Pinnacle Portfolio” Sells At Pebble Beach

You know it’s time for the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance when auction house bosses start talking about setting records as if they’re Olympians training for battle. We’re taking a look at some of the automotive gems that will be offered during that glam Monterey peninsula concours week that culminates with the Best of Show ceremonies Aug. 16. Here’s what’s on offer from RM Sotheby’s:

When you think about Pebble Beach and its wide array of automotive events — concours, historic races, rallies, general schmoozing — it’s easy to crown it the pinnacle of car events.

So no surprise the folks at RM Sotheby’s have dubbed a particularly astounding group of automobiles they’ll be hammering down Aug. 13 at the Portola Hotel and Spa in Monterey, Calif., as the Pinnacle Portfolio.

A car collector who prefers not to be named has decided to slim down and refocus auto-amassing his efforts, and in doing so is letting go of 25 vehicles whose estimated total value is “more than $65 million,” RM Sotheby’s Ian Kelleher says way too calmly. “It’s an enviable collection that bridges the gap between old classics and modern supercars.”

That math again: 25 cars equals $65 million.

Let’s get right down to the highlights: Two Bugatti Veyrons ($1.8 to $3 million), a 1959 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spider ($9 to $11 million), 1971 Lamborghini Miura ($2.2 to $2.6 million), 2005 Maserati MC12 ($1.5 to $1.9 million), 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing ($5.5 to $6.5 million) and a 1967 Toyota 2000GT ($1 to $1.3 million).

And that’s potentially the cheap stuff. A number of lots come tagged with the polite equivalent of “if you have to ask you can’t afford it,” better known as “estimate available upon request.”

Those cars include a 1964 Ferrari 250 LM (RM Sotheby’s sold one last year for $11.5 million and estimates this one could go for $15 million) and a 1998 McLaren F1 LM-Specification (reports indicate a likely selling price between $12 and $15 million).

The undisputed king of this delicious crop is a 1960 Ferrari 250 GT SWB (short wheel base) Competizione, expected to sell for in excess of $17 million. One of only 45 such alloy-bodied cars prepared for the now fabled North American Racing Team, or NART, this car took top prize in that year’s Nassau and Bridgehampton races.

This 250 GT was subjected to just completed cost-no-object restoration — well, make that $650,000 to be exact — that brought the winner back to its 1960 livery. “When it comes to condition, it is mechanically pure and magnificently restored,” says RM Sotheby’s Shelby Myers. “This, couple with the fact that it has not been presented publicly since restoration almost guarantees its next owner a place in the winner’s circle at the world’s most prestigious events.”

A few other things jump out about the Pinnacle Collection. One is that it simply begs the curious question of what this collector plans to focus on next given he’s unloading gems from a broad array of marques. Mum’s the word from RM Sotheby’s.

The other is the impressive number of modern machines that sit side by side with vintage classics. In fact, Kelleher is convinced the growing appreciation - and value — of these cars hints at the interests of the next generation of collectors.

“A lot of younger wealthy people, say in their 30s, really are drawn to so-called supercars (from the ‘80s, ‘90s and ‘00s),” he says. “They’re more driveable (than older classics), and offer performance envelopes that are incredibly impressive.”

For RM Sotheby’s, today’s supercar fan is tomorrow’s classic car investor. Says Kelleher: “You might initially be drawn to a McLaren or a Koenigsegg (the Pinnacle Collection features a 2008 CCXR for between $900,000 to $1.3 million), but eventually if you start digging into the roots of those cars you wind up at a Ferrari 250 GT.”

Among the other remarkable finds are a Ferrari 288 GTO, arguably the marque’s first true modern supercar, for between $2.4 to $2.8 million; a rare but ultra-hot air cooled 1996 Porsche 993 Carrera RS 3.8 at between $350,000 and $450,000; and an American beast of a track monster 2005 Saleen S7 Twin Turbo for between $350,000 and $500,000.

“What’s great about Pebble Beach is that every year each auction house has secured something interesting, but the public is really looking for what’s special in the automotive world,” says Kelleher. “The result is that you have an event where there isn’t much impulse buying. When you’re talking about values in the eight-figures, it’s all about getting all the details correct before making a purchase, the history, the matching numbers.”

That said, Kelleher notes that every year he sees a new crop of bidders raising their paddles, lured by the prospect of taking home a piece of history.

“At Pebble Beach more than perhaps any other venue, it’s really not the people who dictate how the events unfold, but the cars that determine everything,” he says.