Every year, enthusiasts, spectators, and collectors descend on Monterey Car Week and the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in Monterey, California. Their intended quarry? Innumerable near-priceless cars to enjoy. However, for a wealthy few, Monterey can be a shopping trip. However, instead of jackets, shoes, and watches, these car buyers have their focus fixed on some of the most expensive vehicles ever to sell at auction. 

Monterey Car Week and the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance feature some of the most expensive cars in the world

Dedicated classic car collectors. Automakers. Fabulously wealthy spectators with more money and boredom than sense. What do they have in common? Well, you’ll find all of them at the storied Monterey Car Week. As you might imagine, some of the cars at Monterey fetch serious money. Incidentally, this year might be a record-breaker for the event.

The 1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Lungo Spider will be one of the most expensive cars ever sold at auction. Analysts expect the Lungo Spider to take in as much as $20,000,000. With a sweeping, seductively curvy body and a twin-supercharged straight-eight under the hood, the open-air Alfa is quite a looker. 

Behind the 8C 2900B Lungo Spider, three near-priceless Ferraris may break records. At the head, a 1960 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider could be worth north of $18,000,000. Beyond the Ferraris, a 1937 Bugatti Type 57SC Atalante may net more than $10,000,000. Frankly, the $81,000,000 that these cars could collectively fetch is more than the average cost of a private island.

In fact, Hagerty asserts that the total value of cars sold at the 2024 auction could be a record. In 2022, Monterey hosted $471.2 million in car sales. Very nearly half a billion dollars. However, Hagerty estimates that total sales from Monterey in 2024 could reach $488 million, give or take a few million or so. Oh, to be one of those collectors.