Market Intelligence
RM at Paul Ricard. What is the bug?
RM Sotheby’s Guikas Collection auction held at Paul Ricard Circuit witnessed the sale of all 76 cars from the collection; however, 55% of the cars were sold below the minimum estimates, and the average selling price was 12% lower than expected. The Guikas Collection was owned by a French collector and historic car dealer, Jean Guikas, and many of the cars had been in his Marseille showroom for years waiting for buyers. This led to lower sale prices for many cars. Nevertheless, some lots sold for more than the maximum estimates, such as a 1975 Lamborghini Countach LP400 "Periscopio" and a 2012 Audi R8 GT3 LMS Ultra. The auction generated a total turnover of over €39 million, with an average value per car of €514,000.
76 cars from the Guikas collection on offer, all of which sold, in the beautiful setting of the Paul Ricard Circuit, with the RM auctioneer putting on an admirable show and entertaining the crowd for almost five hours straight without missing a beat, not to mention the perfect organization, were not enough to transform it into a success: 55% of the car, in fact, went for below their minimum estimates and the average selling price was 12% lower than expected (€39,089,900 or $44,059,985 against €44,430,000 or $50,133,255). Why?
The explanation is there and it is a simple one: who sold the collection? A collector, Jean Guikas, but also one of the largest French dealers of historic cars. And for potential buyers it was no secret that many of the cars offered were stored in his Marseille showroom for years, waiting for a buyer who, for some reason or other, did not turn into a customer. One example above all, the Ferrari 250 GT Cabriolet S1 Pininfarina from 1958, chassis 0849GT. In 2007, Guikas bought the car in the United States – rumours have it for less than €1.5 million – when it still had the “non-matching” engine. Luck would have it that in his salon at the same time, there was also a 250 Tour de France with the correct engine and in 2017, he commissioned Lecoq coachbuilders to carry out the engine swap and perform a restoration. He had asked to paint it in black when the car was originally ivory, to my eyes an inexplicable gesture given the interest in originality for these cars.
