As confetti showered down onto the lawn at Pebble Beach, Car Week 2025 came to a festive conclusion.
The recipient of the celebration was a gorgeous 1924 Hispano-Suiza H6C Nieuport-Astra Torpedo, a streamlined machine with a body of carved and polished strips of mahogany that claimed Best of Show honors at Concours d’Elegance.
“I’ve always loved varnished wood, and when I saw this I said, ‘My gosh,’” said Lee Anderson of Naples, Florida, who presented the car. “Winning Pebble Beach is probably the highest award you can get in automobile collecting.”
Lee and Penny Anderson have won it before. Three years ago their 1932 Duesenberg J wowed the judges.
But the Hispano-Suiza was almost an anomaly in a 10-day span seemingly dominated by exotics. They prowled the roads of the Monterey Peninsula, flashing past carspotters panning their cell phones to record a glimpse. They attracted overflow crowds to the Inn at Spanish Bay and the streets of Seaside. And they crossed the auction blocks.
On Friday at The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering, Best of Show honors went to a 1996 Ferrari F50 GT1—a vintage car compared to the show of present and future marvels. There was the one-off Bugatti Brouillard, a limited production GMSV S1 LM from the works of designer Gordon Murray and perhaps the most talked-about vehicle, the Corvette CX concept.
Manufacturers used Car Week to unveil next level machines, such as the AMG GT XX concept and the Acura RSX prototype. Traffic stacked up beyond Pebble Beach for the rotating lineup at Spanish Bay, which included one of only nine McLaren P1 HDK’s in the world and a coveted Ferrari F40.
Seven modern supercars topped the bidding at Bonhams in Carmel Valley, with a 2020 Bugatti Divo gaveling at $8.6 million—a record for the model. At the Broad Arrow auction in Monterey, a 2005 Maserati MC12 Stradale went for just over $5.2 million.
RM Sotheby’s Monterey auction set a record by selling a 2025 Ferrari Daytona SP3 for $26 million. All of the proceeds went to charity, which tends to drive the price beyond market value. No matter, the amount makes it the most money paid at auction for a car with a cause.
One wonders why some people persist in referring to the event as “Classic” Car Week.
While they may not bring the same social media fame as exotics, the week continues to feature the finest vehicles from eras past. Indeed, a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider Competizione gaveled for $25.3 million at Gooding Christie’s, setting the mark for the week’s auctions—and for the California Spider class.
Ferraris of different vintages claimed eight of the top 10 spots on the list of most expensive cars auctioned during Car Week 2025, with the Divo and a 1935 Mercedes Benz 500 K Special Roadster crashing the Maranello party. All sold for well over $5 million.
The highest priced car at Mecum Auctions in Monterey was another Ferrari, a 1971 365 GTS/4 Daytona Spider, which drew $2.2 million. Seven cars reached above the $1 million mark, including a 1969 Dodge Daytona race car driven by Bobby Allison.
Car Week in Monterey was a showcase of elegance and exotica, of course. New and more recent vehicles made noticeable inroads on the classics of yore—not only the prevalence of modern supercars, but also seen in the crowds that gathered around the IROC cars raced at the Monterey Motorsports Reunion—cars originally run between 1974 and 2006—and the Radwood-inspired gathering called The Paddock in Seaside, featuring favorites from the 1980s and ’90s.
But there are always welcome bits of whimsy, such as the 1969 Volkswagen Beetle Limousine that graced the Sotheby’s block or the “Galaxy Glider,” built by Chris Wollard of Tulsa to such low standards that it took Worst of Show at Concours d’Lemons.
