In achieving $9.9m (£6.93m) under the RM Sotheby’s gavel on Friday evening in Phoenix, a 1937 Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster has become the top selling classic during Arizona auction week. More importantly for the wider market though, between 84 and 85% of all cars auctioned were sold by RM at the AZ Biltmore and earlier by Bonhams at the Westin-Kierland, Scottsdale, where a 2015 McLaren P1 also set a new world auction record for the model when bought by a young American family for $2.09m (£1.46m).
In achieving $9.9m (£6.93m) under the RM Sotheby’s gavel on Friday evening in Phoenix, a 1937 Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster has become the top selling classic during Arizona auction week.
Bidding for the Third Reich era Merc, which was delivered to the US when new in the rarer and most desirable configuration of ‘high doors’ and ‘long tail’, opened at $5m and ended up at $9m. Plus the 10% buyer’s premium, the $9.9m gross paid makes Special Roadster 130894 one of the most valuable pre-WW2 automobiles ever sold at auction.
The 540K led 17 million-dollar-plus results at RM, many of them benchmark valuations by bidders from 20 countries, who spent a Donald Trumping $62.8m (£44m) during the two sessions. The rest of the Phoenix top ten were taken by a 1929 Duesenberg Model J Disappearing-Top Torpedo Convertible Coupe in second place, sold for $3,000,000m (£2,100,000), and a 1965 Shelby 427 Competition Cobra third at $2,255,000 (£1,578,500).
The fourth highest priced seller was a 1965 Ferrari 275GTB sold for $2,117,500 (£1,482,250), fifth a 1971 Lamborghini Miura P400 SV $2,000,000 (£1,400,000) and a 1965 Ferrari 275GTS $1,760,000 (£1,232,000) sixth. Next was a 1960 Ferrari 250GT Cabrio S2 sold for $1,650,000 (£1,155,000), a 2015 Porsche 918 Spyder for $1,595,000 (£1,116,500), a 1962 Maserati 5000GT Coupe for $1,540,000 (£1,078,000) and, in tenth place, a 1953 Cadillac Series 62 Coupe for $1,430,000 (£1,001,000).
Apart from the McLaren P1 record breaker, among other noteworthy results among $18m+ (£12.6m) worth of changes of ownership in the Bonhams Scottsdale sale, a well-documented, alloy-engined 1962 Mercedes-Benz 300SL made a model healthy $1,485,000 (£1,039,500). Whilst demonstrating the still steady interest in Daytonas without issues, a 1971 365GTB/4 Daytona Berlinetta driven less than 9000 miles from new made $1,155,000 (£808,500), a new live auction record for the model.
A both rare and immaculate 1928 630K Mercedes La Baule Transformable generated robust bidding from the audience and on the telephones until sold for $973,500 (£681,450), while a 1935 Hispano-Suiza K6 Cabrio, a once great beauty from an unrepeatable age, pulled $869,000 (£608,300). A 1964 Aston Martin DB5 also performed well in Arizona in January, selling for $781,000 (£546,700) and a 1955 DB2/4 Drophead went for $396,000 (£277,200). A 1973 BMW 3.0 CSL ‘Batmobile’ demonstrated only too well how times and tastes are a’changing by setting a new world auction price for the model of $341,000 (£238,700).
Last Friday morning in the UK meanwhile, SWVA successfully shifted 94% of the 68 much more affordable cars in their catalogue at Parkstone near Poole in Dorset. The 64 cars sold were 17 more than in the same sale last year, when 18 fewer cars were consigned and 3 were unsold. The only 4 cars unsold this year was just as confidence boosting for both vendors and buyers, who spent £446,128 at the drive-through, an average of £6971 per classic, £203 or 3% more than they did at the same fixture one year ago.
Top seller at the West Country sale was not a Ferrari or a Porsche, but another ‘Fast Ford’, I this case a 1986 Ford Sierra RS Cosworth with 22,000 warranted mileage and full belts change service invoice from July 2015 following years of storage, which sold in the auction hall for £45,360 with 8% premium, just over £10,000 more than top estimate. An Irish Republic registered 1954 Bristol 403 also sold in the hall for £42,100 with premium, again £7000 more than the £35,000+ suggested.
The most paid over estimate though was £22,000 for a Big Healey with mods, but without any history, that had been cautiously estimated to reflect scruffy condition and a total lack of lack of paperwork. For despite having been static-stored in recent decades, the 1960 Austin-Healey 3000 Mk1 with many old rally mods, including triple Webers and humped boot in aluminium, was a runner and did excite much interest, again selling in the room for £42,120, more than double the £20,000 lower estimate figure.
Since ACA 23 January sale day close, and as I input this pre-Paris sales commentary, the King’s Lynn vehicle auctioneers report another eight post-sales, bringing their sales stats to 166 classics sold from 231 offered, a 73% sale rate, and a claimed 5% premium-inclusive sale total of £1.44m, so far, with the prospect of another Ferrari sale.
When so many markets - and most sectors within those markets - being in negative territory, the bullish results from these first ACA and SWVA sales of 2016 in the UK, as well as the RM Sotheby’s and Bonhams US season openers in Arizona, should at least provide prospective players with some much needed confidence to participate, albeit with caution.