Editor’s note: The following story covers 16-cylinder vehicles that sold during Monterey, Calif., concours and auction week during 2022, and Old Cars includes it here to add perspective to the upcoming auctions and concours during Monterey Car Week.
Roy A. Schneider’s 1974 book “Sixteen Cylinder Motorcars – An Illustrated History” is the only book to compile the history of the penultimate multi-cylinder engines. As such, that title is most fitting for this report on 16-cylinder motorcars that were consigned at three of the five collector car auctions during Monterey Car Week in August 2022. Note that these are only cars that sold, as some auction houses offered V-16 motor cars that failed to sell after not meeting their reserves.
The spate of collector car auctions on the Monterey peninsula can offer a rare opportunity to shop for 16-cylinder-powered motorcars that were built in regular production for road use, but often in small quantities. (For 2023, only one V-16 is on the auction docket at press time.) In addition, a prototype V-16 was also offered for sale in 2022. All manufacturers of sixteen-cylinder production passenger cars were represented in Monterey during 2022 save Peerless,
