$30 million.

Even with the extremely rare cars on auction and the staggering millions of dollars put up in RM Sotheby's annual sale, that number was surprising Saturday night during the Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance.

$40 million.

The graphic behind the stage at RM Sotheby's auction gradually climbed, including adjustments for different currencies on the bid for this piece of pre-World War II automotive history.

$50 million.

$60 million.

"The excitement when they started and went up to 50, 60, 70 (million), everyone was standing up," said San Jose resident Nick George, who was in the crowd Saturday night. "It felt like I was in church or something."

$70 million. 

This looked like it could be the highlight of the annual Monterey Car Week that draws thousands of people from across the world to California's Central Coast to see some of the most exotic and significant cars in world history bought, sold and raced.

But at this point, something was wrong. Auctioneer Maarten ten Holder realized he needed to clarify, acknowledging his Dutch accent might be the culprit for the confusion.

"It says 70, guys, but it's 17," he said. "It's a bit exciting to write seven-zero, it may be my pronunciation, but it's 17 million."

The graphics projected behind the auctioneer reset to $17 million, $3 million less than the $20 million stated as the pre-sale starting bid.

Bids didn't exceed $17 million, $3 million shy of the seller's minimum price, and the car remains unsold.

The car in question? A 1939 Porsche Type 64, one of just three ever made and a car with an interesting history even before this mix-up.

The Type 64 was made by Ferdinand Porsche, who founded the Porsche Automotive Group in 1948, while he was a designer for Volkswagen. The car was created to compete in the Berlin-to-Rome race that celebrated the "Pact of Steel" between Benito Mussolini's Italian regime and Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany.

The race never happened, due to World War II, and instead the Type 64 was used as Porsche's personal car during the war. Only three of the models were ever built, making it an attractive car for collectors.

But not attractive enough to garner the $20 million minimum. By the time the bidding had been reset to the correct amount of $17 million, the crowd broke out in boos followed by near silence after ten Holder looked to up the amount.

"The car was brought all the way up here," he said. "It's gorgeous, the moment is now. Are we bidding, yes or no?"

The silence confirmed no.

George felt the change in the audience very quickly.

"It was a lot of excitement then immediate disappointment once people realized what was happening," he recalled. "It wasn't auctioneer's fault, whoever was in charge of putting up numbers — they misheard."

RM Sotheby's released a statement Sunday explaining the gaffe and reaffirming the company's auctioning efforts.

"As bidding opened on the Type 64, increments were mistakenly displayed on the screen, causing unfortunate confusion in the room," the statement read. "We take pride in conducting our world-class auctions with integrity, and we take our responsibility to our clients very seriously. This was in no way intentional on behalf of anyone at RM Sotheby's, rather an unfortunate misunderstanding amplified by the excitement in the room."

This capped off a week of auctions that fell far below expectations. Per Hagerty, the collectible-car insurance and valuation firm, total sales for the auctions were expected to reach $380 million. 

The total as of Sunday morning was a mere $245 million and 34% lower than last year's total. Even had the car sold for $70 million, the week would have fallen well short of expectations.

“Whether it’s the threat of recession, broad economic volatility or too many cars crammed in too few hours, there’s no denying the this year’s Monterey Auction Week results were depressed,” Hagerty said in a statement to CNBC.

Highlights of the auction week included a 1994 McLaren F1 for $19.8 million and one of the James Bond Aston Martin DB5's, used for promotions for the 1965 film Thunderball, sold for $6.4 million Thursday night.
