At the RM Auction Saturday night, Five million, nine hundred thousand dollars plus commission was paid for the ex-Phil Hill 1962 LeMans winning Ferrari, which was the high point of the three major auctions held at Monterey this year. Rick Carey attended the Friday auctions, relaying the following:

RM Auctions kicked off the Monterey commercial action Friday night with a very successful sale, bringing in just over $3 million and selling 60 of 84 cars offered (71.4%) on the first day of RM's two-day extravaganza. Top sale was the Ferrari 250 GT/L Lusso (5521 GT) competition berlinetta which was hammered sold for $200,000 ($220,000 with commission) which was purchased at Barrett-Jackson in January for $189,000 with commission.

Also sold on Friday was the ex-Paris Show 1949 Alfa Romeo 6C2500 SS Pinin Farina cabriolet ($115,000 hammer, $126,500 with commission), s/n 915810 and an Alfa 33/2 Stradale replica which brought $42,000 hammer ($46,200 with commission), a neat street ride that cost several times its sale price. A very nice Giulietta Sprint Veloce brought $36,300 with commission while a sound (and documented) Giulietta 750 Veloce Spider brought $28,600 with commission.

Other sales (all including the buyer's commission) included: Ferrari 275 GTB at $178,200; Maserati Khamsin at $18,700; low miles and mostly original '81 308 GTBi at $26,400; Lamborghini Espada SII at $20,900; '60 Lancia B24S at $77,000; and '73 Lancia Fulvia Rallye at $5,720.

The increasing number of outstanding French cars at the Monterey Historics reminded us that we'd like to widen the scope of both VelocePress and VeloceToday to include a select number of non-Italian cars such as Bugatti, Gordini, Talbot and Pegaso. This year Craig Davis brought the ex-Rosier Le Mans winning Talbot, and Marshall Mathews drove the ex-Sutherland Bugatti Tank (a Type 32 recreation) on the track (he also often uses it to commute to work!). Malcom Campbell's Bugatti, a rare Type 39, now owned by Charlie Shalvoy) added to the array of Type 35s. Sitting alone in the Paddock was the 1948 ex-JP Wimille Gordini Grand Prix car, and a Pegaso was found in the car park at Concorso. We'd like to hear what our readers think about VeloceToday covering these non-Italians.

Lorenzo Marchesini, our Italian Consultant, accompanied us to Monterey this year. Lorenzo has seen it all in Europe, but was very impressed with number of unusual cars at both Concorso and Laguna Seca. Like most of us, he suffered from SSL (severe sensory overload). " But I also felt right at home in Monterey---the climate, terrain, and vegetation are much like Italy," he commented. Nice to know that not only Americans are impressed with the weekend.

Denise welcomes Pablo Gonzales and his Stanguellini to Concorso. Credit Lorenzo Marchesini

Denise McCluggage was a guest of honor at Concorso Italiano this year. Or, shall we say instead that Concorso Italiano was honored with her presence. Denise has done just about everything there is to do, and done it well: a superb writer and journalist, one of the best woman race drivers of all time, the creator, editor and publisher of Competition Press (aka AutoWeek), and an excellent racing photographer. While visiting our VeloceToday booth at Concorso, she showed us her latest project, a monitor screen saver titled "A Privileged View" with over 100 images of drivers and scenes from the 1960s. Further information about Denise's screensaver/slideshow can be found at www.scenesaver.com or call 508-982-5767.