Bonhams at Goodwood: The Right Cars in the Right Place

Bonham's auction organized during the Goodwood Revival always features exceptional lots. This commentary will focus on the numbers and a comparison with the 2023 results. Perhaps due to the incessant rain or the packed racing schedule, this year’s auction had two speeds: in the first 58 lots (up to lot 160), over 70% were sold, followed by a sharp slowdown with only 6 of the next 31 lots sold, a total of less than 20%. Fortunately, the two halves balanced out, and by the end of the day, 47 cars were sold, representing 52.80% of the 89 cars offered. Compared to 2023, all parameters were down, but nothing too serious. For example, the sale percentage last year was 64.29%. In terms of value, the figures might seem misleading: sales dropped from £8,390,882 to £5,818,297 this year, but the estimates this year were only £12,209,000, much less than the £16,656,000 from last year, with an almost identical result: from 50% to 48%. The difference in average prices was also limited: £133,189 in 2023 compared to £121,215 this year.

Despite the rain, some cars shone, particularly the top lot, the last air-cooled Porsche 911 Turbo 993. Nicknamed "The Last Waltz", it rolled off the production line on March 27, 1998 — the same day Ferdinand Porsche passed away. Personalized by the special wishes department, no Porsche 993 Turbo had ever exceeded £370,000 at auction. The estimate of £700,000-800,000 was ambitious, but despite its low mileage (11,000 km), the market corrected it to £614,200 — still a 60% increase over the previous record. For the record, another "Project Gold" model was built 20 years later using leftover parts, but it wasn't officially registered and was sold for charity, so it doesn’t count in the statistics.