The vehicles sold at auctions, perched on coiffed golf courses and driven in rallies during Monterey Auto Week get more diverse every year. The challenges of selecting what gets showcased may only be outdone by the difficulties of getting the automobiles to the Monterey Peninsula.

Some cars are driven by owners who welcome the challenge. Other vehicles arrive by land and sea, on container ships and cargo planes and in trucks, sometimes solo, sometimes six vehicles per haul.

“If things go smoothly, it’s very easy,” said Martin E. Button, former CEO of Cosdel International Transportation, headquartered in El Cerrito, California, “But frequently something goes awry, it’s beyond our control and then it gets complicated.”

Button, a global brand ambassador and Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance selection committee member, is also the husband of Sandra Button, the organization’s chairwoman. The husband-wife team and many colleagues and consultants around the world have endured the woes of transporting vehicles to the Monterey Peninsula.

Delayed in ports because of global unrest and halted by weather conditions, congested highways and similar unpredictable predicaments, it’s not always certain the automotive stars will arrive on time.

This year, more than 50 vehicles, or about 25 percent of the spotlighted 73rd edition, arrived internationally from 17 countries. The process often takes months and with varying levels of rules, regulations and delays. The remaining vehicles will arrive domestically from 34 states.

“We bring them in by air and by ocean,” said Button. “We had one arrive by air freight yesterday and we have several containers coming in the next few days, either a 20-footer with a single car in it or a 40-footer with two cars in it.

“We try to ship everything early enough so that we don’t have any problems, but the problem today is that ships get delayed, frequently. We had one ship delayed because it’s stuck in the Panama Canal. It’s backed up on both sides because of the several-year drought.”

The same obstacles, although not always as complicated, are encountered by auction houses that annually sell modestly priced cars, trucks, motorcycles and multi-million dollar artwork on wheels.

“There are a lot of variables that happen for drivers that they cannot control,” said Mike Baker, Director of Mecum Auto Transport. “Whether it’s the weather or customer availability or mechanical issues with the truck or trailer.

“It could be an accident five miles in front of them (a driver) that shuts down the entire highway. There are bad road conditions and at the end of the day, drivers are only allowed to drive 11 hours a day. So then they have to find somewhere to park legally so that the highway patrol or Department of Transportation isn’t knocking on the window in the middle of the night.”

Mecum Auctions, headquartered in Wisconsin, has more than a dozen auctions around the country annually. Its fleet of 12 transport trucks takes vehicles to auction and delivers them to customers. A simple, local transfer begins at $250. Multiple-state or cross-county transport can reach $4,000. International transport costs dwarf the amounts for domestic transport.

Shipping cost factors include the time of year, gas prices, vehicle size, vehicle operability status, enclosed or open transport, shipping distance and pickup and drop-off locations.

Mecum Auctions vehicle transportation trucks have six-vehicle capacities. Full loads are preferred, although it doesn’t always occur.

“We do the best we can to make sure we can haul six,” said Baker. “Sometimes, the size of the vehicle we are trying to haul prevents us from actually getting six on the trailer. That happens pretty often but we accommodate for what we can control.”

While Mecum and other long-time auction companies involved in Monterey Auto Week work with consulting international freight companies, it’s more than a periodic occurrence for Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and its affiliated events.

Many years ago, the event celebrated Ruxton, the New York manufacturer whose existence in the early 1930s was brief and with an output of fewer than 100 cars. Most of the presented vehicles came from one collection in Houston, Texas.

This year, the 125th anniversary of Packard was honored. And likewise, none of the highlighted namesake vehicles were transported internationally.

But last year, when two classes of vintage Mercedes-Benz roadsters were honored, 11 of the 19 presented vehicles were transported to Pebble Beach from international locations.

“It all depends upon what the marque is that we’re celebrating,” Button said, noting a rare Bugatti, transported from Austria, will be included in this year’s event. Half of the other marques this year will also be arriving from overseas.

Mecum’s transport responsibilities sometimes include celebrity vehicles for auction in the mix with a wide-ranging selection of modestly priced to multi-million dollar rarities.

Raised in an auto industry-immersed family, Baker helped his father transport vehicles. He’s not a hauler but embraces the automotive world from the perspective of drivers who can spend 330 days per year on the road.

“It’s just being able to know the ‘ins and outs’ of every car,” he said. “You jump into a 1929 Packard one day, a ’67 Ferrari the next day. You are going to know how to start, run and drive every single one of these cars.”