There’s already a lot of money in the Monterey Bay area, but more greenbacks flooded the Oceanside California city in the form of cool cars and hard cash. The cash showed up at the many auctions, including those held by Russo and Steele, RM Auctions, Bonhams and Gooding & Company.

Phil Skinner, ace auction reporter for Old Cars Weekly, reported that a 1937 Bugatti Type 57SC Atalante coupe sold at the Gooding & Company sale on Saturday night for $7.2 million dollars. Skinner said bidding was hot between a phone bidder and a bidder who was in the audience. The audience member nabbed the car for what very well might be a record price for a non-Royale Bugatti. Gooding reported the car sold for $7.92 million, a figure presumably determined after the buyer’s premium.

The car was one of 12 Bugattis offered from the Dr. Peter and Susan Williamson Collection. According to Gooding, a portion of the $15.5 million raised from the sale of the Bugattis will be donated on behalf of the late Dr. Peter Williamson to the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and the Dartmouth Medical School.

Atalante coupes are a favorite of mine, and I find it noteworthy to mention a second Bugatti Atalante was sold in the sale for $850,000. This car was in better condition, but was not an SC. I’m writing this from a hotel room and far away from my library, but I believe an SC is a lower-slung (S) and supercharged (–C) model of Type 57, and a far more desirable model of Bugatti.

You can see complete results from the Monterey-area auctions on the pages of Old Cars Weekly.

The judge’s votes have been tallied at the world’s most prestigious car show, the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance (as if I needed to state it), and this year’s Best of Show winner isn’t a French car or even a mighty Duesenberg, but an equally impressive 1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Touring Berlinetta, a dark blue beauty with rear fender skirts with sweet horizontal cut-outs to expose the rear wheels. The fastback coupe was shown by Jon and Mary Shirley of Medina, Wash.

The Shirleys’ Alfa was pitted against two other Best of Show nominees, a stunning 1934 Packard LeBaron sport phaeton brought by multiple-Pebble Beach Best of Show winners Jack and Helen Nethercutt and similarly successful Sam and Emily Mann’s 1935 Hispano Suiza K6 Brandone cabriolet.

I speculated that the sheer beauty of the Manns’ Hisso and the size, beauty and uniqueness of General William Lyon’s 1939 Mercedes-Benz 770K Cabriolet B would put either of these Classics on the podium and flushed with ribbons, but I was wrong!

Anticipation is building for several cars about to cross the many auction blocks across the Monterey area, and one of those at Russo and Steele is a 1966 Corvair.

Before you burst into a hearty laugh that would make Ralph Nader smirk, this isn’t just any Corvair, but a Yenko Stinger, one of 100 built by Don Yenko for racing in SCCA competition. The car that will be offered at the Russo and Steele auction is a 220-hp Stage III car, one of five believed to have been built.

The vendor purchased the car 95-percent restored and left with a few things to wrap up, including rebuilding the special carburetors, which had to be taken to a special shop to complete.

The source of the anticipation is largely because no one knows what it’s worth, not even the owner. According this Yenko Corvair’s owner, only one other Yenko Stinger has appeared in a public sale, and it was still a serious race car, not one restored to its as-delivered configuration in which even the glovebox lamp still works, as on this one. As a pricing nerd, learning the value of such a rare car is fascinating to me. I’ll keep you posted what this rare bird sells for, but in the meantime, here are some interesting Yenko Stinger facts, learned from the owner, to peruse before the car crosses this block this Saturday evening.

Yenko Stinger equipment:

3.89 axle ration

Factory roll bar

Widened wheels (not all Yenko Stingers have these special wheels)

Three body tags, including a fleet-order tag

Special Yenko oil pan, headers and air cleaners