These Are The Cars That Sold For Under $15,000 At Monterey Car Week 2025

Who says you can’t find an affordable used car in 2025? Why, even the well-heeled car buyers at the infamously extravagant Pebble Beach can find a few affordable rides on the Monterey Car Week auction docket. Last year, I stayed in the realm of Mecum Auctions for affordable finds, but this year even Gooding Christie’s had one or two affordable vehicles on the docket. 

Last year we had tons of cars under $10,000. This year we weren’t quite that lucky, but there were still a lot of highly affordable vehicles. These are the cars folks managed to buy for relatively sane prices even at the world’s most mental car show. Imagine sipping champagne and dropping only five figures on a classic car. Some of these ended up selling for less money than similar vehicles listed for sale on sites like Bring A Trailer. Scroll through and check out the lowest priced vehicles sold at Monterey Car Week this year, plus one honorable mention at the end. 

We have a lotta love for Lada around these parts, but it would take a particularly nice example to reach a five-figure sale price even among fans. But this particular Lada Niva seems worth its auction price. Nivas were designed specifically for off-roading, and this example comes with features like permanent four-wheel drive and a locking center differential that make getting off pavement and onto grass possible. The tough little tyke comes with a 1,569-cc inline-4 engine mated to a manual gearbox. It’s hard to measure this example up against other Nivas for sale, as it is an incredible rare model in the U.S. and the mileage is not mentioned on the Gooding listing. It’s certainly near the ceiling of what I’d personally pay for a Lada, but art like this is worth what people are willing to pay for it.

A little touch of iron oxide never hurt nobody, but that little bit of rust probably hurt the sales price of this otherwise clean Pontiac Catalina. Hey, let’s see you look perfect after 83,316 miles. This Pontiac came by its pantina honestly, as it has lived its life in California with a single owner, who leaves behind notes detailing what the car cost to fuel up going back to 1964. I’ll take an ocean-sprayed body over road salt deluge undercarriage any day. This Catalina comes with a V8 engine and a cue ball shifter for its four-speed manual. Overkill? Maybe. But this is a car that announces to the world “I know what I’m driving for the rest of my life,” so it better go big or it might as well go home. 

This Beetle is listed as “highly original condition” with only 783 miles on the odometer, but it still sold below what other examples of this vehicle go for on the open market. Someone at the Mecum auctions made off with a steal of a deal this year. This little guy comes with the familiar flat-4 engine and 4-speed manual transmission. All the mechanical bits have been serviced, cleaned up or rebuilt and it has a new set of tires on it. This Beetle truly looks like its been waiting to live its best life outside of storage. Hopefully its new owner lets it run around a little. 

Another absolute screaming deal is this 2006 Cadillac XLR Convertible with an odometer that reads 36,894 miles. Would I pay even that much for a 2000s GM vehicle? Probably not. Even though Caddy wasn’t affected by the ignition switch scandal I still have a hard time trusting GM products from this era. But a convertible with a V8 might be just what the doctor ordered to soften my heart. You get the 4.6-liter V8 in this bad lad, and an automatic transmission. Who needs to worry about rowing gears when you’re trying to feel the wind in your hair? 

Another absolutely screaming deal. Seriously, a rotary engine with just 1,578 miles on it? And someone only paid 11 grand for an automotive engineering marvel. Ridiculous. I’ve got to get myself to a Mecum auction next year. The auction house didn’t even bother with getting proper pictures of the damn thing! This car was babied in a climate control garage for the last 14 years or so and comes with its original window sticker still intact. Absolutely wild. 

A diesel Mercedes wagon? Be still my heart. This baby finished up a total restoration just in time for the Mecum auction. The odometer, at 267,306 miles, is probably what pushed the price of this hot ride down a touch. Other than that you get a cherry vehicle with retro-fitted air conditioning and the original 3.0-liter inline-5 diesel engine. Just gotta be a little weird, don’t you Mercedes? I’m wild for classic Mercedes wheels and this car has quite a set on it. Similar examples usually sell for a few thousand more than this car, but the mileage is where it lost points. Still, a diesel Mercedes is one of those cars that can easily do another 200,000 miles without breaking a sweat. 

Now we are talking. Here is a car that is not afraid to take up space in the world and in its lane, an absolute pimp-mobile that’s the pride of the Malaise era fleet. This garage-kept queen of the road comes with a 400-cubic-inch V8 engine with just 62,923 miles on it and a brand new set of white wall tires, because of course. Similar vehicles have sold at nearly twice the price. It always a thrill to see these boaty, floaty vehicles on the road. I hope who ever bought it puts another 62,000 miles on it cruising as slowly as they want. 

A 5.4-liter V12 engine mated to an automatic transmission with just under 100,000 miles on the clock, the low price for this hot BMW is actually not much of a shock. In fact, this sale price seems right in line with similar listings on the internet, maybe a little bit cheaper than you’d get from Bring A Trailer or Autotrader. It already looks like the car that belongs to a not-terribly successful spy trying to keep up appearances. This model’s bulletproof windows just seal the deal. These cars aren’t exactly known for their reliability, so the odometer being near six figures is shocking in its own right. Hopefully whoever bought this car is ready for the headaches as well as the dizzying highs of BMW ownership. 

This car originally cost $600 back in the early 20th century. That comes to $19,778.45 in today’s dollars, so this buyer did indeed get a deal. These only came in black after 1913, making this lovely green Model T a rare commodity. The lot comes with an additional engine, which is pretty good news considering Ford hasn’t made the Model T since 1927. The winner of this auction also received a “magnum bottle of Inglenook Rubicon wine, along with an invitation welcoming them and three guests to the Coppola family’s historic Inglenook estate in Rutherford, California, for a private tour and wine tasting,” which certainly sweetens what is already a cherry deal on a piece of history.

These depreciation queens are a great buy in Monterey it seems and, with 132,169 miles on the clock, this 7 Series has been around the block enough time to knock several thousand dollars off the price. This car comes with a 4.4-liter V8 making 445 horsepower, and it’s got the M Sport package. This is another car someone got as a deal — similar 7 Series with far fewer miles sell for thousands more.

The most modestly priced vehicle sold at Pebble Beach auctions is sure to become a future classic. Well, maybe that’s not a sure bet, especially not this one with over 111,000 miles on the clock, but whoever bought it will surely be happy with their purchase. This Avalanche comes with a 5.3-liter Vortec V8 engine and an automatic transmission. Popping around on used car listings shows smilier vehicles with more miles selling at over double the price. See, a deal at Monterey is achievable! 

It’s a book. I mean, it’s a very impressive book, but it’s still just like, a book. But this book demanded $10,000 at auction. But of course, it’s not as simple as that. The book features a calfskin cover, clamshell case, and metal logo plate plus four spark plugs removed from the collections’ most prominent cars: the 1936 Bugatti 57G, 1938 Alfa Romeo 8C-2900B, 1964 Cobra Daytona Coupe, and 1970 Porsche 917 LH. Hey, put those back!