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Monterey Car Week Preview.

One week in August every year sees the car world descend on the beautiful Monterey Pennisula in California. Highlights during the week include the Monterey Historic at Laguna Seca with a special tribute to Dan Gurney including the Spa-winning Eagle (#36) and Le Mans-winning Ford Mk IV (#1) with 18 other significant Gurney cars take to the grid. The 2010 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, takes place on Sunday, August 15, will feature Alfa Romeo, Pierce-Arrow and Jaguar and will celebrate the designs of Ghia. The event will also welcome Hot Rods, particularly lakesters and Bonneville racers, back to the show field, as well as Indy Cars, and our second annual class of motorcycles will focus on classic American bikes built prior to 1960. RM Auctions will hold its 2010 Sports and Classics of Monterey auction on August 12th to 14th at the Portola Hotel and Spa and Monterey Convention Center in Monterey, California. RM’s 25th annual auction will feature approximately 225 cars, with 20 automobiles estimated to garner over $1 million. Headlining the sale is a 1958 Ferrari 250 ‘Pontoon Fender’ Testa Rossa, s/n 0738 TR, which RM bills as the “most important and valuable motor car ever offered” during Monterey’s auction week. Other highlights include a 1949 Delahaye 175 S Roadster; 1938 Talbot-Lago T150-C Lago Speciale Teardrop Coupe; 1931 Bugatti Type 51 Grand Prix; 1957 Jaguar D-Type Sports Racer and 1933 Duesenberg Model SJ Riviera Phaeton, among others. In addition to the headline Ferrari 250 TR, RM’s Monterey sale also offers no less than 25 Ferraris, including a 1954 Ferrari 375MM Pinin Farina Berlinetta; 1954 Ferrari 500 Mondial Berlinetta; 1959 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spyder; 1957 Ferrari 250 Pinin Farina Spyder Series I and 1959 Ferrari 410 Superamerica Series III Coupe. Bonhams and Butterfields Auction Bonhams and Butterfields Quail Lodge sale is the company’s premier North American motorcar auction and focuses on fine European and racing cars. If there is one marque that represents Bonhams and Butterfields 2010, it’s competition Porsches. Both auction days feature the Michael L. Amalfitano collection, with some very significant race cars: the 1967 Porsche 910 Prototype Coupe that Gerhard Mitter drove to victory in the Nurburgring 1000 km; a rare 3-liter flat-8, 1969 Porsche 908 “Flounder” Spyder; a 1975 Porsche RSR; and a 1988 Porsche 962 Prototype. Also set to cross the block: a 5.4-liter flat 12-cylinder, air-cooled Interserie racing (European Can-Am) Spyder that used to be a Porsche 917K Coupe — before Mike Hailwood crashed it in the 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans. Walking back to the pits with the steering wheel in his hand, he was famously asked, “Is that what came off or is that all that’s left?”