Market Intelligence
Gooding and Bonhams: Triumph of Pre-War Cars
Stan Lucas’s pre-war collection shattered expectations at Gooding Long Beach, hitting $33.5M with record-breaking Oldsmobile, Doble, and more.
Boom! Just when you think the pre-war era is over, Stan Lucas comes along and changes the game! But who was Stan Lucas?
A well-known manufacturer of tyres for historic cars and a former racing driver, Stan Lucas was one of the leading pre-war experts since the 1980s, and Gooding did not miss the opportunity to offer his collection in Long Beach on 20 September: 72 cars were offered without reserve, so all were sold. In terms of value, it was a huge success: according to pre-auction estimates, the total should have been around $21,000,000, but at the end of the evening, sales totalled $33,581,100, 50% more than expected, with an average price of $466,404.
