An ex-works 1953 Jaguar C Type Lightweight in Ecurie Ecosse colours motored across the RM Sotheby’s block at Monterey to sell for $13,200,000 (£8,448,000 including premium) to become the most valuable Jaguar ever sold at auction. A 1953 XK120 Supersonic justified much pre-sale interest by making $2,090,000 (£1,337,600), a record for an XK120 sold in a public auction.
An ex-works 1953 Jaguar C Type Lightweight in Ecurie Ecosse colours motored across the RM Sotheby’s block at Monterey to sell for $13,200,000 (£8,448,000 including premium) to become the most valuable Jaguar ever sold at auction.
During three days of auction action, which took nine hours and grossed just short of $173m (£110.7m), an all-time high for a collector car gig, the top step of the 2015 Californian auction week podium was also claimed by RMS for a 1964 Ferrari 250LM which cost the winning bidder $17,600,000 (£11,264,000 in our money).
The performance of a 1998 McLaren F1 road car that had been upgraded at the factory to LM-spec was similarly stratospheric with a premium-inclusive $13,750,000 (£8,800,000) valuation by the new owner, not only an auction record for any McLaren, but the highest price ever achieved for a British car sold at auction. More than 3600 attended these sales in person. Bidders from 31 countries, 20% of them first-time clientele and some in the 30-40 new money age bracket, competed for the 150 sets of keys and bought 129 or 86% of the cars in 3 glossy catalogues. Even more bullish were the 4 lots exceeding $10m apiece, 7 more than $5m each and the 36 individual $1m+ results.
Gooding & Co had a $128m weekend, a company total for a two day auction, during which 115 of the 129 cars driven across their Pebble Beach stage sold, an 89% sale rate, 3 selling for over $10m and 26 for over $1m, the average price of $1,113,896 (£712,893 per car) their highest ever. More market records were smashed here, too, for both Ferraris and Porsches, marques which have appreciated the most strongly during the recent stampede of bulls.
Gooding’s highest fliers were a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider sold for $16,830,000 (£10,771,200), a single lot record for the house. Nuccio Bertone’s own 1962 250GT SWB Berlinetta Speciale realised for $16,500,000 (£10,560,000) and the Le Mans winning 1982 Porsche 956 raced to a $10,120,000 (£6,476,800) conclusion. A 1957 410 Superamerica S2 Coupe made $5,087,000 (£3,255,680) and a 1988 Porsche 959 Komfort $1,732,500 (£1,108,800), a model that has more than doubled in price since the start of this buying season! A 1992 Ferrari F40 fetched $1,375,000 (£880,000) and a 1961 250GTE S1 from the same Italian stables changed hands for a quite extraordinary $797,500 (£510,400), another rolling asset that has appreciated wildly in the recent past. Even $1,925,000 (£1,232,000) was available for a 2015 built McLaren PI.
A 1959 Ferrari 250 GT Competizione Alloy auctioned by Bonhams at Carmel even warranted its own catalogue and duly headlined with a $8,525,000 (£5,456,000) performance during a 90% sold sale when $46,700,000 (£29,888,000) was invested in the future of another 96 fine automobiles. Mass market Mecum meanwhile had attracted 796 entries for their Monterey monster bash, during which $45mwas spent, up 30% on last year, with a 1969 Lamborghini Miura P400S claiming pole with a $2,300,000 result (£), a 1970 Plymouth Hemi Cuda Convertible £2,250,000 (£) and a 1976 Porsche 911 930 Carrera Turbo, the last special order for Steve McQueen no less, going for $1,950,000 (£1,248,000), mega money even for such mega petrolhead provenance.
At their Fisherman’s Wharf venue meanwhile, Russo & Steele report sales of $10,200,000 for mainly muscular Americans, though European classics occupied the first three places in their results, with a 2005 Porsche Carrera GT sold for $781,000 (£499,840), a 1971 Mercedes-Benz 280SE 3.5 Coupe for $440,000 (£281,600) and a 1966 Ferrari 330GT for $404,250 (£258,720). A pair of world record for model prices were claimed by R&S, who hammered away a 1966 Shelby GT350 ‘Change Over’ for $313,500 (£200,640) and a 1977-made Porsche 911 Turbo for $214,500 (£137,280). A 1967 Sunbeam Tiger street cruiser also roared well when sold for $180,000 (£115,200).
Including a few transporters full of post-sales, the 2015 Californian totals amount to $402.4m worth of collector stock shifted by the 5 auction houses who run their sales ‘live’, in public and on-line. This was almost exactly the same as was invested on the Monterey Peninsula last August. For although, statistically, the market for collector vehicles may therefore have stayed much the same, thanks to politician-directed ‘quantitative easing’ (printing more money in pub-speak) and the constant erosion of the spending power of all currencies through uncontrollable inflation, in real terms, many of the achieved prices in California have almost certainly actually softened.
One thing is absolutely certain however and that is more classics are going under the hammer in more UK auctions than ever before. Indeed, yet one more house and possibly national record is about to be established in Norfolk this weekend when the 300 entries barrier is broken at the ACA drive-through in King’s Lynn.
As ever, the all-important proportion of cars that sell and how much they sell for will be down to bidder confidence plus how much heat their plastic can stand on the day. Anyway, by the time the rash of roundabouts have been safely circumnavigated on the long haul east, Costa Coffee’s takings should certainty have been boosted and the turbo on your reporter’s trusty CRV will be glowing nicely.