Every August, the California coast becomes less about wine and whales and more about horsepower and heritage. Monterey Car Week is where collectors casually drop tens of millions on cars that most of us will only ever meet through glossy photos and auction reports. This year was no different – record-smashing sales, one-offs with absurd attention to detail, and enough carbon fibre to make Formula 1 blush
2025 Ferrari Daytona SP3 ‘Tailor Made’
The week’s biggest sale wasn’t a dusty classic. It was a one-off, extra Daytona SP3 Ferrari built just for charity, complete with the logo turned into a racing stripe. It went for a ridiculous $26 million, with every cent going to The Ferrari Foundation. A rare moment when excess actually equals good.
1993 Ferrari F40 LM by Michelotto
Ferrari let Giuliano Michelotto take the F40 and go racing with it. Nineteen LMs were built, all turbocharged insanity. This one never saw the grid, but still got a GTC-spec 760bhp engine. Translation: it will scare its new owner even without a chequered flag.
1935 Mercedes-Benz 500 K Special Roadster by Sindelfingen
This one has serious pedigree. Pebble Beach Concours winner back in 1982, first owned by the Earl of Arran, Arthur Gore, and still one of the most elegant shapes ever to roll out of Sindelfingen. Proper aristocrat stuff, with a straight-eight growl.
2005 Maserati MC12 Stradale
The MC12 has always been Ferrari’s stranger cousin, but values are no joke. This one blew past the old record of $3.8m with ease. Even better, the seller had just sunk $70k into a recommission by GTO Engineering. Expensive gamble, profitable payoff.
1989 RUF CTR1 ‘Yellowbird’ Lightweight
The Yellowbird is already legend, but this Bordeaux Red lightweight version is unicorn territory. Only six were built, and this one lived at Alois Ruf’s home. Imagine parking a 211mph Porsche-baiting monster in your garage just because you could.
1952 Jaguar C-Type
Sold for a hair under estimate, at $3.635m, which in Monterey-speak counts as a bargain. One of 43 customer cars ever made, and already accepted into the 2026 Mille Miglia. The new owner basically bought history – and a guaranteed road trip through Italy.
Lamborghini Fenomeno
“Few-Off” is Lamborghini code for “rarer than rare,” and the Fenomeno is their maddest yet. A Revuelto at heart, but dialled up to 1,080hp thanks to trick internals and a bigger battery. It hits 100kph in 2.4sec and tops 350kph. Just 29 exist, all sold. Because of course they are.
Gordon Murray Special Vehicles: S1 LM & GMSV Le Mans GTR
Gordon Murray has nothing left to prove, but he keeps doing it anyway. The S1 LM is his modern nod to the McLaren F1 GTR, with a 12,000rpm V12 wrapped in gold heat shielding. Only five will exist. If you miss out, there’s the Le Mans GTR – 24 longtail specials with wild aero and the same Cosworth V12. Both already sold out.
Tuthill x Meyers Manx LFG
Yes, “LFG” means exactly what you think. This is the reborn beach buggy, but done with Tuthill’s Porsche know-how. Carbon body, roll cage, flat-six, sequential gearbox and 4WD, plus a six-year adventure programme starting with the Baja 1000. 100 units, all pure chaos.
Bugatti Brouillard
Bugatti’s farewell to the W16 engine is a one-off called Brouillard – named after Ettore Bugatti’s horse. Green leather, horse-stitched seats, a glass gear shifter with an equine sculpture inside, and 1,600hp. Only one will ever exist, and it might just be the most expensive Bugatti yet.
Ringbrothers Octavia
Two American brothers took a ’71 Aston Martin DBS and reimagined it into this wide, carbon-bodied brute called Octavia. Now packing an 805hp Ford V8 and six-speed manual, it looks part Bond car, part muscle car. Inside, leather, carbon and Easter eggs nodding to 007. It’s Aston by way of Wisconsin, and it works.
Image Credits - RM Sotheby's
