Has inflation taken a bite out of the exotic car market? Premier Financial Services Midwest Regional Sales Manager Ross Dressel has seen a dip in activity in the $200K-$500K heart of that segment. But meanwhile, “affordable” pre-owned exotics and classics in the $75K-$200K range are getting more action for America’s #1 exotic and classic car lease financing provider. Who’s up? Who’s down? Read here to find out.
The Corvette is going electric! This fall, customers start taking delivery of the quickest Corvette ever, the E-Ray hybrid. Combining combustion and electric power, the E-Ray is designed to deliver the ultimate street Corvette experience. Just as the 2020 mid-engine Sting Ray realized a Corvette layout first promised more than 50 years ago, the E-Ray’s all-wheel drive delivers on legendary Corvette engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov’s vision and experiments with all-wheel grip for the Vette even before that. The E-Ray is available in coupe and convertible models, starting around $105,000. A full electro-Vette is in the pipeline, too.
What better prelude to the 72nd Pebble Beach Concours d’ Elegance® than to buy a car (or few cars) from the auctions held in conjunction with this pinnacle event? If you’re bidding or selling, the action is at the auctions, of course. We’ve assembled the auction itinerary here and selected some highlights from the Bonhams, Broad Arrow, Gooding & Company, Mecum, and RM Sotheby’s sales.
McLaren has given its alluring 720S a hefty update, including a 30-hp boost that triggers a badge change to 750S. The 66 pounds McLaren cut from the 720S might seem small in terms of acceleration performance, but it lets McClaren claim the 750S as its lightest-ever “series production” model (which excludes limited models). A major cockpit revision enhances driver control, and a new exhaust system unleashes howling soundtrack. Best of all, there’s a choice between coupe and Spider models.
Pioneering Corvette chief engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov would have been thrilled to see the new-generation mid-engine Vette comparing favorably with far more expensive sports cars. And he would have been floored to see the new-for-2023 Z06 version called “an American Ferrari” by a leading automotive magazine. Lapping a racetrack faster than all but a handful of exotics and priced from $110,000 to nearly $180,000 with all options, the Corvette Z06 has indeed “arrived” in a new echelon of the performance car world.
Forget March Madness, Florida brought the heat to the collector car world with the quartet of Amelia Island auctions booking $186 million in sales, a record for the venue. The top sale, a 1962 Ferrari 250 GT California Spider, accounted for $18M by itself. Ferraris grabbed 13 slots across the four auctions’ Top-10 lists, and Porsches took four. Modern supercars made some auction Top-10 lists, including $5.3M for a rare Pagani Zonda and $2.4M for a McLaren P1. A 1931 Duesenberg put the spotlight on Pre-war cars with a $4.3M sale.
The Acura NSX, a Japanese supercar introduced in 1990, reached a higher peak with its 1999 Zanardi Edition. Commemorating Alex Zanardi’s Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) IndyCar championships in 1997 and 1998 in Reynard-Hondas, only 51 cars were built. At its Quail Lodge auction this month, Bonhams will offer the #3 car, which has had three owners, and shows only 17,300 miles. The pre-sale estimate is $240,000-$280,000
The new McLaren 765LT Spider is built for insanely fast speeds. With obsessive attention to reducing mass, the car’s pricing starts at $382,500, without a stereo system or air conditioning, which are no-cost options that add 25 pounds to its weight. This venomous Spider will run from 0-60 in just 2.7 seconds, obliterate the quarter-mile in 10 seconds and top out at 205 mph if you have enough track.
By all accounts, the auctions at The Amelia — now under the ownership of Hagerty — were a grand success, with the sales from RM Sotheby’s, Bonhams and Gooding & Company totaling nearly $126M. Notably, a 1937 Talbot Lago set a world record price for the marque and for French cars at $13,425,000
