MONTEREY AUCTIONS; The Vintage Market Is Just Fine, Thank You.(News)

Byline: DAVE KINNEY

Record foreclosures in the housing markets. Gasoline prices $1 more per gallon than the same week last year. A nervous stock market and a hotly contested presidential election. Although it sounds like a formula for disaster, there was plenty of good news for sellers at the Pebble Beach and Monterey auctions.

In Bonhams & Butterfields' 11th year on the peninsula, the company celebrated best-ever results of nearly $22 million, roughly twice last year's total. High sales include its catalog cover car, a 1939 Talbot-Lago T-150 C SS, ex-Pierre Boncompagni, Ecurie Nice, selling for $4,847,000. Most of the preauction buzz at Bonhams was reserved for a 1960 Jaguar E2A prototype, astutely marketed as the "Missing Link racer. Another example of the American market's newfound preference for patina over polish, this carpresented with a few scrapes and dentsbrought $4,957,000.

Next up was RM Auctions, whose two-evening sale started as the Bonhams event was winding down. Held in downtown Monterey at the Portola Plaza hotel, RM's event reported a total of $44 million, down from last year's haul but still a strong result. Top honors went to a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB, which sold for $4,510,000.

RM sold 11 cars for more than $1 million each, including two Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona Spyders and two Ferrari 275 GTB/4s. Two American cars topped the million-dollar mark at RM: a 1929 Duesenberg Model J convertible coupe and a 1948 Tucker 48 sporting a recentbut not freshtop-quality restoration. The car more than doubled its presale estimate.

RM's catalog cover car, a 1956 Ferrari Tour de France Berlinetta, ...