After a year-long hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Monterey Car Week in California is set to return this August. Beginning today, August 6th, 2021, live events will run until Sunday, August 15th. The annual classic car week will feature nearly 30 events, including car shows, auctions, races, panel discussions, and lectures. Topping the week is the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, commemorating its 70th year. This year’s Monterey Car Week auctions will feature sales from Bonhams, Gooding & Company, Mecum Auctions, and RM Sotheby’s. In 2019, the Monterey Car Week auctions together garnered USD 250,000,000. Auction Daily explores some highlights of the coming Monterey Car Week auction cluster before the events kick off. 1970 Porsche 917K. Image from RM Sotheby’s. 1970 Porsche 917K A 1970 Porsche 917K will cross RM Sotheby's 2021 Monterey block with a presale estimate of $16,000,000 to $18,500,000 (lot #328). The car— chassis 026— made its debut in the 1970 World Sportscar Championship, 24 Hours of Le Mans. Driven by David Hobbs and Mike Hailwood, it sported an orange roof and blue lower bodywork. The car ran as high as the third position for 49 laps before crashing in the 50th lap. In 1971, it appeared as the winning car in Steve McQueen’s film Le Mans. The film used original racing footage. Following the movie, the chassis was factory repaired and re-bodied as a Porsche 917 Spyder. The remodeled 917 Spyder had lightweight open bodywork and competed in the 1972 and 1973 European InterSerie Championship. “The Gulf Oil Porsche 917K is essentially the holy grail of competition cars,” Gord Duff, global head of auctions at RM Sotheby’s, said in a statement. “It represents the very best of motorsport history and heritage from an era of legendary cars and drivers, it will forever be a movie star in its own right.” In 1988, collector Mike Amalfitano acquired the car. It remained in his possession until the current owner purchased the car in 2010 for nearly $4,000,000. He then restored it to its original Le Mans coupe specification. 1995 McLaren F1. Image from Gooding & Company. 1995 McLaren…