2026 Monterey Auctions With $758M Record Sales

August 18, 2026

The numbers are in, and the 2026 Monterey auctions made history. Total sales reached a record of $758.3M, surpassing even the pandemic-fueled frenzy of 2022. Beneath the headline sat a more complicated story: The market is diverging between the cars collectors desperately wanted and everything else.

2026 Monterey Auctions With $758M Record Sales — Matt Tierney

Here are the big takeaways:

Modern supercars exceeded expectations and accounted for more than half of all sales.
1960s American cars enjoyed some outstanding results, with a 1964 Shelby Cobra Daytona coupe selling for $42.9M, a record for an American car, and a 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport sold for $18.7M, a record for a Corvette.
The highly anticipated 1996 McLaren F1 GTR sold for $34.7M, a record for a British car at auction.
Prewar cars regained some market share. They were led by a 1935 Duesenberg Model JN at $9.1M, which earned the third-highest price ever for a Duesenberg
Exceptional cars sold for record prices, while many more common models, from the 1950s and 1960s, sold for less than condition-appropriate amounts

Even though the $758.3M total exceeds 2022’s record high by some $284M, the number requires context. A handful of extraordinary, nearly irreplaceable cars carried enormous sums that pulled the total skyward, while a broad swath of more common offerings quietly underperformed.

The clearest story of 2026 was the continued acceleration of the divergence of the market. At the top, modern low-production Ferraris—particularly those with halo status among the marque’s most devoted collectors — commanded prices that would have seemed implausible just a few years ago. For serious Ferrari enthusiasts, owning one of these cars isn’t purely about the vehicle itself; it also signals commitment to the brand and strengthens an owner’s position when Ferrari allocates its next ultra-exclusive model. That dynamic added a layer of strategic demand on top of already intense collector interest, sending results well above estimate. A Ferrari 288 GTO sold for a record $11.6M, an F40 sold for a record $8.4M, and an F50 sold for a record $14.6M.

At the bottom, the story was considerably less celebratory. The most numerous consignments of the auction were vehicles of the 1950s and 1960s, which represented over a third of the lots, and were the only two decades with a negative median final price to Hagerty Price Guide condition-appropriate value. Conversely, vehicles from the 1980s through the 2020s, such as modern supercars, saw median premiums of 31 to 38%. The message from bidders was consistent: There is no rising tide here. Each car earns its result individually, and familiarity alone doesn’t generate demand.

Modern supercars set over a dozen records over the three days, with some records lasting only a day or less before being broken again. Ferrari supercars set several records, with the 288 GTO, F40, and F50 all reaching new highs. Lamborghinis also set records with a Countach LP400S selling for $2.4M, and a 2010 Murciélago LP640 selling for $3.1M. Other cars that set records ranged from the McLaren F1 GTR to the Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport to the Hennessey Venom F5.

Prewar cars delivered some of the week’s more surprising moments. The 1935 Duesenberg Model JN Rollston Convertible Coupe sold for $9,080,000 by RM Sotheby’s. That was the third-highest price ever paid for a Duesenberg. A 1934 Packard 1108 Twelve sold for a marque record of $4.3M. Twenty years ago, the majority of sales at the Monterey auctions were cars of this type. Their share of sales has continued to shrink as Enzo-era Ferraris, and now modern supercars, have taken the spotlight. However, sales of the best prewar cars show the segment still has fans, and it may regain share in the future. For the right buyer, early iron still commands real money—but only when the provenance and condition are beyond argument.

The 1960s segment, long a reliable driver of Monterey results, produced its share of headlines as well. A 1964 Shelby Cobra Daytona coupe sold for $42.9M, which set a record for an American car, and a 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport sold for $18.7M, which is a record for a Corvette. Taken together, these results confirmed that collector interest remains strong for cars of this decade—but here too, the divergence applied. Iconic, low-production 1960s metal drew spirited bidding; but 1960s vehicles covered by the Hagerty Price Guide (Cobra Daytona Coupe excluded) sold for a median of 6.2% below condition-appropriate value.

The top ten sales this year spanned five decades and four marques, with seven of the ten represented by Ferrari. Even as hypercars and prewar exotica fought for headlines, the Prancing Horse remained the organizing principle of the week.

With Monterey now behind us and the next major sales not until January, the market has time to sit with what 2026 revealed. The record total will generate headlines, and rightfully so. But the more durable takeaway is structural: the collector car market is sorting itself with an increasingly stark spread between the irreplaceable and everything else. If your car is one-of-a-kind, 2026 continues to be a very good year.

Listed below are the results Hagerty observed during the live auctions as well as any post-sale deals reported by the auction companies to Hagerty. Numbers include the appropriate buyer’s premiums.

Overall 2026 Sales from all auction companies