PHOTOS: A look back at Car Week 2024 in words and pictures.

The last gavel has pounded, the last glasses of champagne tipped, the last ribbon of confetti has fallen and the last of the troublesome boy racers have returned home. And with that, Car Week 2024 comes to an end.

The people who attend Car Week events are here for the enjoyment of it, and the sense of fun is easily shared. On Friday morning, before cars rolled onto the block at Mecum Auctions, lights were lowered and the volume cranked. Suddenly people young and old were bouncing around to AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck.” Minutes later a hushed awe draped the room as the auction house unveiled the Porsche 917K that Steve McQueen drove in the film Le Mans.

Later that day at The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering, a couple from Toronto visiting Car Week for the first time beamed with evident anticipation as they discussed which events to hit next. On Sunday at Concours d’Elegance, people came to full stops as they encountered the 2016 United Nude Lo-Res Car, a concept vehicle so difficult to comprehend that stunned laughter tended to erupt.

Event organizers were challenged to fit a description in the 100 or so words allotted by the guidebook. But they made a valiant effort: “The Lo-Res design method takes an object and incrementally strips away the 3D resolution, down to its most basic interpretation—invariably an abstract and unrecognizable form.” Several onlookers made humorous comparisons to the Cybertruck. As it turns out, Elon Musk sought the advice of Lo-Res’ Rem Koolhaas when considering his resulting monstrosity.

A 1934 Bugatti Type 59 Sports won Best of Show at Concours d’Elegance. It was the first time a preservation class car was so honored at the prestigious event. The particular class features unrestored vehicles—cars with original parts and paint, along with the dings of use. Perhaps it's a reflection of a change in the tone of collecting. The automotive lifestyle and insurance firm Hagerty reports that demand for glittering classics from an earlier age is off and auction prices falling, while most modest and modern vehicles are on the rise.

Still, a flawless 1937 Delahaye Type 145 picked up Best of Show at The Quail. And the auction winners from Car Week included a 1960 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider at just over $17 million (RM Sotheby’s), the 1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 Lungo Spider featured by the Weekly, which hammered at $14 million (Gooding & Company), a 1955 Ferrari 410 Sport Spider—why were manufacturers so enamored with arachnids?—that brought $12.9 million (RM Sotheby’s) and the week’s surprise, a 1969 Ford GT40 Lightweight that drew $7.8 million, the largest figure for a car sold at Mecum’s Monterey auction.

Number five on the list is another harbinger of change, perhaps. Broad Arrow’s auction saw a 1997 Porsche 911 GT1 Rennversion hammer at $7 million.

In all, 1,143 cars were sold at auction during Car Week, fetching an average of $476,965 per lot. Because of the concentration of buyers and sellers on the Peninsula, experts use Car Week to gauge the collector market. This year it continued a downward slide, hitting preliminary total sales of $392 million—off 3 percent from a year ago. But according to a preliminary estimate, Mecum Auctions had one of their best years. If so, it would fit the trend. Mecum brings both midrange and high end cars to Monterey.

On the lowest of low ends, a 1975 Lincoln Continental won—?—Worst of Show at Concours d’Lemons.

Thus concludes Car Week, 10 days of auctions, swanky gatherings, vintage racing, shows and private functions, as well as traffic and the problem boy racers who carelessly and cluelessly spur their egocentric sports cars on local roads.

For the most part, Car Week brought smiles. As Giovanni Perosino, the chief marketing officer for Maserati, puts it, “everybody has a good time.”

Click through the slideshow above to check out scenes from Car Week.