Editor’s note: Follow all of the action and updates on our special Monterey Car Week page.
RM Sotheby’s has an amazingly high-end lineup for its flagship August auction in Monterey, California; of the 150 collector cars offered, 35 have pre-auction estimated values exceeding $1 million, including the previously reported 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO valued between $45 million and $60 million.
Two more sports/competition cars have been added to the docket, each valued above $4 million, according to an RM Sotheby’s news release, one a ’50s Porsche racer and the other an exceptional Mercedes-Benz from the ’90s.
The Mercedes is an “incredibly rare” 1998 AMG CLK GTR, a homologation example of which just 25 were built to allow entry, and domination, of FIA GT1 competition by the purpose-built racers, the release says.
“No car was more dominant in that era than the CLK GTR, whose unmatched performance in the 1997 and 1998 season caused every manufacturer to effectively go back to the drawing board to begin anew,” the release adds.
The CLK GTR is one of the rarest German sports racing cars ever produced, RM Sotheby’s says, with just six of them known to reside in the U.S.
“This car, serial no. 09/25, is the last of the true hypercar-race cars, with performance that rivals the latest and greatest offerings from the world’s top manufacturers,” the auction company says. “The ninth of just 25 examples built (of which 20 were coupes), this CLK GTR has led a charmed life, having had just three owners and showing shows less than 1,500 original kms (932 miles) since new.
“Fastidiously maintained, the car has been recently imported to the U.S. under the Show or Display exemption and federalized for all 50 states.”
The Mercedes is offered in turn-key, as-new condition, the release says, and is valued at $4.25 million to $5.25 million.
“Marked by what I would say is some of the most extreme yet physically attractive bodywork on a post-War sports and GT car, originally built for homologation in GT Championship racing, and in virtually flawless overall condition, I firmly believe the CLK GTR offered in our Monterey auction represents the ultimate in collector car investment and long-term value collectability,” Shelby Myers, car specialist for RM Sotheby’s, says in the release.
The Porsche is one of the iconic “giant killers,” a 1957 550A Spyder, with which the fledgling sports car maker beat race cars with much larger-displacement engines through a combination of lightness and handling finesse.
This Spyder, chassis No. 550A-0116, has an extensive race history on West Coast tracks, originally owned and driven by Jack McAfee of Burbank, California, and then by a succession of leading enthusiast drivers.
The car was restored by Porsche experts in Germany, RM Sotheby’s says, and was a class winner at the 2014 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance. The historic sports-race car carries an estimated value of $4.6 million to $5 million.
The RM Sotheby’s auction will be held August 24-25 at the newly renovated Monterey Conference Center in downtown Monterey. For more information, visit the auction website.
