2022 Gooding Pebble Beach Auction
It’s a tradition for us to kick off our Car Week festivities with a trip to the Gooding & Company Pebble Beach Auction. Luckily, we’re still in Gooding and Co’s good graces, so we hit the 2022 Pebble Beach auction preview to see this year’s offerings and to enjoy another tradition…fantastic caffeinated beverages courtesy of the fine people at Putnam Leasing.
The rest of our Car Week visits are relatively loud, crowded and even chaotic at times. An auction preview, especially when it opens in the morning, is a great opportunity to get up close and personal with a million dollar unicorn, a racer with a past, an obscure classic, or a survivor in need of a new home. Gooding delivers all of these things and more. What’s more is that their helpful staff are always willing to answer questions, open a hood or a door, or fire up an engine should you have any curiosity about one of their offerings. A good number of the lots up for action have been, or will be, featured on the lawn at the prestigious Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance on Sunday. As we highlighted last year, a Bugatti Type 35 became the most expensive Bugatti Type 35 ever sold at auction, at $5.6 million that Friday evening, and on Sunday morning was on the fairway at the Concours. By Sunday afternoon it had taken home the Chairman’s Trophy.
The results of the two-day Gooding auction are mind bending. 135 of the 158 lots available sold for an average price of $810,758 per lot! The top sale of the event was an impossibly beautiful 1937 Bugatti Type 57SC Atalante, that gaveled down at $10,345,000. The Bugatti proved to be the second most expensive car auctioned on the Monterey Peninsula for 2022. Results also saw record-breaking values being achieved for Porsche models RS Spyder ($5,615,000), 908/2 ($4,185,000) and 1973 911 Carrera RS 2.7 Lightweight ($2,425,000). Records were also set for the Ferrari F40 ($3,965,000) and the Bugatti EB110 Super Sport ($3,167,500).
According to the Hagerty Insider, the several Monterey auctions collectively sold $470.7 in hardware over the week of events. 2022 also eclipsed the previous weekend high total set in 2015 at just below $395 million in sales. Inflation and recession talk be damned…there were a whole lot of dollars seeking a whole lot of vehicles this year.
Now, on to our picks…..
Mark’s picks
#1
That it’s not easy to pick favorites is an understatement given the breadth and variety of cars that Gooding & Co bring every year to the Pebble Beach auction. My first choice was easy for me as it was the car that I spent the most time admiring and came back multiple times for more photos and to gather in all the detail. It was not only stunning to look at but perhaps was among the most interesting from a historical perspective. While it looked like it’s 1950s forefathers it was not old, nor is it what would one consider a replica. It was a much more unique approach to being back in painstaking detail a car that was created 60 years ago. I’m speaking of the Jaguar XKSS Continuation. The original XKSS was the product of Jaguar taking time away from a very successful motor racing campaign (5 D-Type Le Mans victories) due to evolving regulations. The D Type evolved into the XKSS, which was designed for the North American market. After sixteen D-types were completed to XKSS specifications, a fire in Jaguar’s Browns Lane factory destroyed the remaining nine chassis. Normally, this would be the end of the story, but in March of 2016 Jaguar announced they would complete the original production run of 25 cars by building the nine XKSS lost to the Browns Lane fire. In other terms, Jaguar-Land Rover used the same technology (sort of) that was used in Jurassic Park to resurrect historical beasts using the original DNA. The results are impressive and lack the disastrous outcome of Jurassic Park’s DNA tinkering.
Each car was new from the wheels up and utilized one of the original nine chassis numbers assigned to the cars that burned in 1957. They were constructed using traditional building methods that were used on with the original XKSS including hand-wheeling the bodies over a styling buck and bronze-welding the frames. The aircraft-inspired and Le Mans–tested four-wheel Dunlop disc brakes, riveted two-piece magnesium alloy wheels, and Dunlop tires are all period-correct fitments. Each engine was cast to original specifications, including new blocks and cylinder heads and three Weber DC03 carburetors. Even the dashboard knobs, Smiths instruments, and the grain of the leather upholstery are as-original.
The XKSS demonstrates that it is possible to resurrect the past and when the gavel dropped it sold for $1,545,000.
#2
I love the historic and exquisite pre and post-war street cars, and Gooding & Co always host an amazing display of these vehicles, but I’m a sucker for anything with a Motorsports pedigree. The 1969 Porsche 908/02 fit the bill as a factory works Porsche raced at Brands Hatch, Targa Florio and the Nürburgring in 1969. It was driven by the likes of Vic Elford, Richard Attwood, Rudi Lins, Gérard Larrousse, Kurt Ahrens Jr., Masten Gregory, and Pedro Rodriguez and had four appearances as a privateer effort at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Its not just its provenance at the track and under the command of legends of motorsports, but it also exemplifies and era where racing was truly an often dangerous pursuit of pure analog passion.
In recent years it was also an entrant at vintage events including the Monterey Pre-Reunion and Rolex Motorsports Reunion in 2015, the Rennsport Reunions in 2015 and 2018, and Velocity Invitational in 2021. It has also been accepted to the Velocity Invitational this coming October.
It sold for $4,185,000
Andrew’s picks
#1
Mark was right about picking favorites. There were no bad choices under the Gooding tent. Add to that the fact that I’m an unapologetic Porschephile and Gooding had almost 40 amazing P-cars on offer spanning the entire history of the company. It’s like a huge hunk of this event was tailored just to me. That said, from all of the press leading up to the event, there was one that had and never lost my full attention. Ever since its surprise debut at the Rennsport Reunion in 2018, celebrating 70 years of Porsche cars, the Gen. 2 Porsche 935 has captivated me. The fact that the car on offer sported one of my favorite first generation 935 liveries was a twofer of epic proportions.
Behold, the one of 77, 2019 Porsche 935 in the iconic retro Interscope Racing livery, harkening back to the fire breathing Kremer Racing K3s from the early 1980s. This example was a one owner car, presented in as-delivered condition. This 911 GT2RS based, track-only monster pays perfect tribute to Porsche’s racing heritage, the over-the-top “Moby Dick” body silhouette, and Porsche’s penchant for giving their clients and fans exactly what they crave. Base price for the 935 when new was about $830k. The auction estimate for this car was $1,000,000 - $1,400,000.
It sold for $1,462,500
#2
My second pic is about as far from my first as I could get. The only thing the 1957 Mercedes Benz 220 S Cabriolet has in common with the 935 is that it was made in the same country.
The reason I loved this car so much is that the moment I saw it, I automatically imagined myself driving it, appropriately on 17 mile drive, on a beautiful and balmy overcast day, top down and not a care in the world. This is not something I normally do, so I think the sensation was the universe telling me that this is a special car worthy of highlighting.
Simply put, this car is just lovely. The radiant Light Green Metallic paint, matched with impossibly rich red leather interior with all the period wood and chrome interior bits was a tour-de-force of Benz’s ability to build a car for a purpose. Pack custom made luggage (included), drop top, start the silky 2.2 litre straight six and go. Go where? Who cares. Regardless of the journey, this would be the best of the best ways to get there. The auction estimate for this amazingly restored concours winning tourer was $180,000 - $220,000. Apparently, someone else was quite captivated by this special specimen too….
It sold for $307,500
Consensus pick picks
The last pick for each of us is not only the same choice, but actually three cars. One was already one of Mark’s faves from above, but it was just one jewel in the auction’s bonkers Jaguar triple crown. We agree that the XKSS is an incredible thing, but just slightly less incredible, and parked adjacent, were two other Jaguar continuation cars. We’ve followed the creation of these things for years on magazine pages and online. We weren’t sure we’d ever see one up close, let alone 3 in one place. Car Week is truly an amazing thing.
The other two cars in the continuation series on offer were the 1956 D-Type and the 1963 E-Type Lightweight (Jaguar is also making 25 1955 C-Types in the continuation series). The D-Type was offered with only delivery mileage, and was one of only 25 produced. Finished in black with tan leather trim, this long-nose version with streamlined stabilizer fin looked every bit the spacecraft today that it did in the mid 50’s.
The E-Type Lightweight, this version used by Jaguar for press and promotion of the continuation program, was one of only 6 produced in the series. After it was used for promotion, this example was “refurbished” and modified slightly by Jaguar Classic Works and then incredibly sat virtually unused until this auction.
As mentioned above, the XKSS gaveled down at $1,545,000, just above the low auction estimate. The D-Type and E-Type, listed at $1.2-$1.5 million and $1.5 and $2 million respectively, did not sell over the weekend. Both remain on offer on goodingco.com, each for the asking price of $1.2 million. All results aside, seeing these amazing specimens together was something special. Kudos to Jaguar for undertaking the endeavor of resurrecting the memory of these legendary models and kudos to Gooding for offering them together in one venue.
Gooding never fails to deliver as one of the best things about Car Week, and for us, is always the best way to kick off our favorite week(end) of the year. As always, we have included a jam-packed gallery below to give you an idea of what the auction was all about that gives you a little more context about the event.
