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Passion assets, institutional discipline — view in browser |
The Paddock Brief · Market Briefing · Issue 01 |
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01 · Welcome
A monthly briefing on the collector-car market, built like an investment note.
Welcome to the first issue of The Paddock Brief, Autobahn Alpha’s monthly read on the collector-car market. Each issue brings a data snapshot of where the market moved, the stories worth your time, notable auction results, and a short update on what we’re building.
Our lens is specific: European modern classics — broadly 1985–2009 — in the $500K–$3M range, where documented production numbers, service histories and deep auction data make the market genuinely analyzable.
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02 · Market Snapshot
Monterey 2026: the largest collector-car auction week ever held.
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Monterey Total Sold
$751M
+76% YoY
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Auction Sell-Through
75.6%
+3.9 pts
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Modern-Classic Median
$313K
+33% YoY
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Our lot-level read of all 2,275 lots across the five Monterey houses puts the week at roughly $751M sold — up about 76% on 2025 and comfortably past the 2022 record. Cars built 1985–2009 grew at nearly twice the market’s pace to 27% of total spend, and million-dollar modern classics nearly doubled — from 17 sold to 33. Discriminating, not euphoric: exceptional, well-documented cars drew ferocious bidding, while the merely good sold soft or not at all. Six results that caught our eye are in Notable Sales below.
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03 · Top Stories
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04 · Auction Results
Notable sales: six that caught our eye
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05 · Build Update
What we’re working on
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The app is live. The Autobahn Alpha app has launched — market data, collection updates and member reporting in one place.
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Next up. We’re busy bringing our next investment grade, modern classic vehicle to market — stay tuned! |
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06 · From the Journal
The poster cars are coming of age.
Strip the $40M charity Ferrari out of a record Monterey and the sharpest story is still there: cars built 1985–2009 more than doubled to $205.9M — 27% of the week’s spend — in a market that grew 76%. The lot sheets explain why, and where the ceiling moved.
Read the full piece → |
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07 · Founder’s Note
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Glenn Harwood
Founder & Managing Partner |
The two 959s at Monterey told the whole story. A Sport made $7.0M; a Komfort made $2.9M — same badge, same silhouette, seven figures apart on specification alone. The same weekend, a Carrera GT was bid to $4M and went home unsold. In the band we watch — European modern classics between $500K and $3M — specification, provenance and honesty of condition are the entire game. The distance between the right car and the almost-right car has never been wider, and it’s exactly why we underwrite with data instead of applause.
More numbers, less noise — see you next month.
— Glenn |
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Autobahn Alpha
For accredited investors · informational only. Nothing here is an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy securities. Past performance does not indicate future results. Data: Autobahn Alpha analysis of 2,275 lots, Monterey Car Week 2025–2026; prices include buyer’s premium.
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