A 1964 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe Just Sold for $42.9 Million, Smashing the American Car Record — Historic Bargain or Sign of a Wildly Overheated Market?
On August 17, 2026, at the Gooding Christie's Pebble Beach auction during Monterey Car Week, a 1964 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe (chassis CSX2300) sold for $42,905,000 including buyer's premium, becoming the most expensive American car ever sold at auction. The sale obliterated the prior American record of $22 million set by a 1935 Duesenberg SSJ in 2018, and even topped a Ferrari 250 GTO's recent $38.5 million benchmark. Only six Daytona Coupes were ever built by Carroll Shelby's team specifically to beat Ferrari on the track, and this is the only one Shelby personally owned, having raced at the 1964 Tour de France Automobile and helped clinch the 1965 FIA GT Championship, the first and only time an American manufacturer topped the world GT standings. The sale blew past its pre-sale estimate of roughly $25 million and anchored a record-shattering Monterey Car Week overall, where five auction houses combined for $747.9 million in sales, a 73% jump over 2025. Yet that same week exposed a stark divide in the market: while a handful of blue-chip cars fetched historic prices, many prewar classics and mid-tier cars sold soft or went unsold, fueling debate over whether the market is healthy or dangerously bifurcated.
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Title: Reddit - The heart of the internet # The Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe competed at LeMans 1964/1965. Go to this link for some very special photographs provided by USA Library of Congress. No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government, Historic American Engine...
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The $13.9 Million F.P. Journe Résonance: Proof Independent Watchmaking Has Conquered Horology, or a Speculative Bubble in the Making?
On June 13, 2026, Phillips' New York Watch Auction XIV sold an F.P. Journe Chronomètre à Résonance "Souscription" No. 007 (dated 2000) for $13,922,000, instantly making it the most expensive F.P. Journe ever sold and the most expensive watch by any independent watchmaker ever sold at auction. The piece was one of just 20 "Souscription" watches Journe delivered to the earliest patrons who prepaid to bankroll his tiny atelier in the late 1990s, and this was its first-ever appearance at public auction. The sale anchored a record-shattering $75.8 million two-day total, with all 158 lots selling (100% sell-through) and 16 lots crossing the $1 million mark, making it the highest-grossing watch auction in U.S. history. It capped a historic spring 2026 season for Phillips in which independent watchmakers like Journe repeatedly out-priced storied Swiss maisons such as Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet. Supporters frame it as vindication: a self-taught, independent watchmaker who once needed subscription financing now sits atop the entire auction market. Skeptics counter that a $13.9 million watch is less a horological verdict than a symptom of scarcity-driven mania among ultra-wealthy collectors, raising the question of whether this reflects genuine artisanal value or a bubble inflated by hype and provenance storytelling.
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What skills are needed to learn horology (watch making)? What is the difference between horology and watchmaking (watches)? The field of horology fascinates me and I am genuinely interested in learning about watches, from basic stuff like different types of watch movements to ...
I have always been obsessed with watches and watchmaking. What should I buy for me to start my journey into watchmaking? Then you can start your career either with your own neighbourhood workshop, try to get a job with a watch company, or use your. Then you can start your care...