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The many-event extravaganza called Monterey Car Week has grown into the showpiece of the annual automotive calendar in the United States, effectively becoming the launch venue for some of the world’s most exclusive and most expensive new cars. Yet while those unveilings always draw attention, many of the weekend’s real stars are found inside the auction houses spread across the Monterey area, away from the spotlight of The Quail or Pebble Beach’s 18th green. To lift the curtain on that side of the occasion, Road & Track teamed up with RM Sotheby’s this year to track one especially significant Chevrolet on its $18,705,000 trip to a new owner.

Each year, auction firms including Gooding Christie’s, Mecum, Broad Arrow, and Bonhams stage remarkable sales in Monterey, but this time none quite matched the sheer quantity of important machinery offered by the RM team. While the internet has been captivated by that $40 million transaction involving the first Ferrari Luce, it was by no means the only headline lot under the tent. Also on that list was an authentic 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport, still regarded as one of the rarest and most important American cars ever made.

The Grand Sport programme came from the mind of none other than Zora Arkus-Duntov, widely known as the Father of the Corvette. Duntov joined General Motors in 1953 and immediately set out to turn the Corvette into a genuine circuit rival for the sports cars he had raced in Europe. He was the one who pushed to give the ‘Vette V-8 power for 1955, using the EX-87 Test Mule to prove its performance promise; he also created machines such as the SR1, SR2, and Corvette SS in pursuit of a proper race-ready package. Even a 1957 industry-wide ban on motorsport participation did not seem to slow him down.

All of that effort led to the skunkworks-developed 1963 Corvette Grand Sport, of which only five were completed before GM executives shut the programme down. The car in question is Chassis 003, the first of the three coupes built; with Dick Doane driving, it claimed three SCCA class wins in 1963, and then recorded second- and third-place finishes at the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1964 and 1965 respectively. Unlike most of the other Grand Sports, this example was never involved in a major racing accident.

The structure remains fully original, and so does the lightweight bodywork. The car also still carries most of the factory-built components created specifically for the race cars, something no restoration can truly reproduce on its own. Taken together, that makes it one of the most desirable competition cars available anywhere in the world, whether American or otherwise.

When a car is expected to change hands for tens of millions of dollars, simply getting it to Monterey for auction becomes a challenge in itself. That is precisely why RM runs its own transportation operation, making sure even the most distant vehicles complete the trip to Pebble Beach successfully.

“When it comes to logistics on these cars, it varies,” said RM Sotheby’s spokesperson Ethan Gibson. “If a car isn’t far from the auction, it may be transported locally, but more often we’re dealing with cross-continental shipping on semis from locations across the country, and in many cases, cars coming from overseas by air. It truly is a planes, trains, and automobiles kind of situation.” This particular car was less complicated than some others at the venue, since its previous home was also in California under the care of collector Larry Bowman.

“There’s an entire logistics team behind it all, managing everything from the second we consign a car, to where it will be stored, when it needs to leave, and how it ultimately gets to Monterey,” Gibson added. “RM owns its own transport operation, so we handle a lot of that in-house. Anything we can’t handle ourselves is managed through our preferred shipping partners around the world.”

Every major consignment in RM’s Monterey catalogue was received by the team before the festivities began, then displayed at the Portola Hotel and Monterey Conference Center for public viewing sessions ahead of the sale. Although visitors still need to be registered bidders or buy a pass to get in, these preview days remain the best opportunity to get close to the sheet metal that is not destined for a lawn display.

When 003 finally rolled onto the auction stage on the evening of Saturday, August 15, bidding climbed until it eventually stopped at a final hammer price of $18,705,000. That result made this Grand Sport the third-most valuable American car ever sold at auction, behind only a short-wheelbase 1935 Duesenberg SSJ at $22,000,000 and a 1964 Shelby Daytona Coupe at $42,905,000. While there are fewer Grand Sports than Daytonas, the Shelby enjoyed far greater success in international competition. Even so, a new benchmark has now been established for Corvette sales.

“I think some people have a tendency to think Corvettes aren’t as collectible as some of their European counterparts, but that couldn’t be further from the truth,” Gibson told Road & Track. “Chassis 003 ... shattered the world record for a Corvette, and is now one of the most valuable American racing cars ever sold at auction. It was built to bring the fight to Ferrari and Shelby on the racetrack, and we’ve always believed it belongs in collections alongside the greats, including cars like the Ferrari 250 GTO. To have a car that competed at that level and came out relatively unscathed is also remarkable. These cars lived incredibly hard racing lives, but somehow this one managed to escape much of that. I think this result seals the deal in terms of where the Grand Sport belongs in the collector car world.”

The buyer of Chassis 003 has still not been identified, but the process after every completed RM auction remains the same: the auction house works with customers to determine the best way to move the car to its final destination, whether that means more of RM’s planes, trains, and trucks or simply handing over the keys. According to Gibson, the auctioned cars generally leave for their new homes within a few days of Monterey coming to a close. With nearly 200 lots offered by the brand this year, that is a substantial logistics exercise.

As for me, I can only hope the new owner of this particular beast chose to drive it home under its own power, unlikely as that may be for a $19 million piece of history.