RM Sotheby’s Monterey

The fixture

RM Sotheby’s Monterey is the flagship sale of the collector year — the room where eight-figure results are made and where the season’s records tend to fall. The catalogue reads like a wish list of the hobby’s most significant machinery.

Because the world is already watching Monterey, results here move reference prices instantly. A record in this room reprices every sibling chassis the same night.

Record night. One hammer price here re-anchors the HICON-PRICE of an entire model line.

The HICONIUM lens

Dates: August 13–15, 2026
Venue: Monterey Conference Center
Place: Monterey, California (US)
Type: Auction
Dated from: rmsothebys.com

rmsothebys.com

Results from this fixture feed the ledger — record sales, class wins and documented outings land in the affected cars’ files.

The origin

1997

The RM Monterey auction dates to 1997, when RM and Buck Kamphausen acquired the Monterey Auction Company and held RM’s first Monterey sale that August. The sale was a continuation of an existing Monterey fixture, which Rick Cole sold to RM. It came from Rob Myers’s Ontario business, begun as a one-car restoration shop in Chatham in 1976; Dan Warrener and Mike Fairbairn later joined its move into sales and auctions. Sotheby’s acquired a 25 percent interest in 2015, and the house became RM Sotheby’s.

How it runs

Venue and days: RM’s 2026 sale ran at the Monterey Conference Center, 1 Portola Plaza, beside the Portola Hotel, from 13 to 15 August. The published schedule paired daytime previews with auctions on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday; Saturday also listed Concierge Auctions at 3:00 p.m.
Access and payment: Weekend preview admission was $60. Auction-room admission was limited to registered bidders, qualified media, and consignors. Registration requires identification and financial documentation under RM’s conditions; successful bidders were told to pay by wire transfer no later than 5:00 p.m. on the next business day.
Bidding and premium: RM accepts floor, telephone, absentee, and online bids, subject to registration and the house’s discretion. For motor cars in Monterey, the purchase price combines the hammer price, buyer’s premium, and fees; the premium is 12 percent through $250,000 and 10 percent on the balance.
Separate fixture: RM Sotheby’s Monterey is an auction within Monterey Car Week, not the Pebble Beach Concours. Gooding Christie’s runs its separate Pebble Beach Auctions at Parc du Concours; RM uses the Monterey Conference Center. Auction prices belong to their respective sales, not to the Concours.

On the record

2013
A 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4*S N.A.R.T. Spider, one of ten commissioned by U.S. importer Luigi Chinetti, sold for $27,500,000 including the 10 percent buyer’s premium. RM said it was then the most valuable road-going car sold at auction; proceeds went to charitable causes.
2014
Chassis 06701, the first of three 1964 Ferrari 275 GTB/C Speciales by Scaglietti, sold as lot 239 for $26,400,000 at Saturday’s Monterey session.
2018
Gregory Whitten’s 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO, chassis 3413 GT, made $44,000,000 at the hammer and $48,405,000 with fees after nearly ten minutes of telephone bidding. It was then the auction record.
2022
The three-day sale totalled $239,258,340, then the highest-grossing automotive auction. A 1955 Ferrari 410 Sport Spider by Scaglietti led at $22,005,000, while Porsche’s 911 Sally Special reached a $3,600,000 hammer price for charity.
2025
RM’s two-day 2025 sale totalled over $165 million. A one-of-one Ferrari Daytona SP3 Tailor Made, commissioned beyond the 599-car run, sold for $26,000,000, with proceeds designated for the Ferrari Foundation.

In the register

Houses

People

Sources

The consignment

60 cars coming to the block

Every documented lot consigned to this sale, grouped by manufacturer, with the house’s estimate beside each. Figures are pre-sale estimates — the result lands in each car’s file once the hammer falls.