The Alfa 8C 2300 stalls, the Ferrari sprints and the hearse survives

If you take a look at the results of the Bonhams auction, you could hardly be blamed for thinking the results weren’t exactly positive: sales totalled $8.1 million, roughly half those registered in 2019 (but we will explain why) and, despite 68% of the cars being offered without reserve, just 80.5% of the cars exchanged hands. Those with a reserve price couldn’t better 36%. Finally, of the 87 cars sold, just 28 (about a third) were sold at a price – including commissions – that was equal to or above their minimum estimate.

All told, this was not a good result, but that’s not the case and here’s why.

If the 1932 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Cabriolet of Figoni (when he was still “single”) had sold for $8.4 million – the highest offer it received – the $8.1 million result of 2019 would have doubled. Allow me a momentary small digression because many potential buyers turned up their noses, hoping for a more competitive version or a Corto version, and yet a few years ago a much more “modest” 6C 1750 once again bodied by Figoni outscored the competition at Villa d’Este and had many of the competitors at Pebble Beach shaking at the knees. With an 8-cylinder engine and derived from a rarer model, God only knows what could happen on the shores of Lake Como. Let’s face it, the $11-13 million estimate was without question very high considering what you can get with that amount today and personally I think the maximum offer was a fair one, however I also understand that certain cars materialize just once in a lifetime.

And so the most expensive car was the “usual” Ferrari. Well, not the usual modern Ferrari hypercar but a real “Fabergé egg” with a Cavallino on the grille. Certified by Ferrari Classiche and documented by Marcel Massini, the 1951 Ferrari 212 Inter Cabriolet had a body designed, and this is the peculiarity, by Vignale. Her more-elegant-than-sporty lines earned her a silver medal at Pebble Beach in 2014, immediately after her thorough restoration. Fresh from the prize, the following year this Ferrari returned to the “scene of the crime” and was sold by Bonhams for $2.2 million. This time, it went for $1,930,000 and yet the owner won’t be able to complain because the market has dropped considerably (and this demonstrates once again how much more exclusive and particular cars perform better than the market) but mostly because also because the car gave them 5 years of enjoyment.

But the most important result of the auction (and perhaps even the week) was Lee Iacocca’s Dodge Viper RT/10. Short recap: Lee Iacocca was perhaps the greatest salesman in automotive history, also known as “the father of the Mustang” (he was also the “good guy” in the recent film Le Mans ’66), and in 1979 he was called to save Chrysler which was on the verge of bankruptcy. After five years, he turned the $1.7 billion losses into a $2.4 billion profit. This money allowed them to develop riskier projects, such as the Viper, which was presented in 1992. As a result, it’s not unfair to say that the Viper is, in a sense, the daughter of Iacocca. To thank the ex-CEO, at the presentation in 1992, he was given the first model off the production line, which Iacocca kept until his death this summer and drove very little since it only had 6,500 miles on the clock. It was, therefore, not just any a Viper and the estimates of $100-125,000 showed that even the experts of Bonhams confirmed the increased level of interest. They did not realize that they had underestimated it because the price, after several comebacks, rose to stratospheric levels: $285,500.

But this raises an important question: if the “Iacocca factor” increased the Viper’s value, why did the other two cars (a 1986 Chrysler Le Baron Town & Country Convertible and a 2009 Ford Mustang Iacocca Edition) sell at below their estimates? If it’s the Viper instead that’s climbing the preference list, why did a 1993 Hennessey Venom version go for just $40,320 when the estimate was $60-80,000? I am more in favour of the second theory, and so recommend following the snake. Perhaps a GTS model, blue with white stripes (which is so Gran Turismo 1).

Let’s agree that a lot of good deals were made at this auction, but probably none like the Rolls Royce Silver Spur Landaulette from 1987, built on an elongated frame, with 26,000 miles and only one owner from new, this car was perfect for the parades of a dictator… Probably costing Dino Fabbri, the first owner, some $300,000 in the 1980s, estimated at $50-60,000 and sold for just $17,920. If the buyer was American or European, they would be stretched to find a use for it. Is that the reason for its low price?

If you prefer the macabre, a great deal could also have been the 1939 Packard Super Eight bodied by Henney as a hearse. Here, too, thanks to the lack of usability (although it still has four seats: three in the front and a “friend” behind!), the estimate of $150-190,000 was completely ignored. A viveur took her home for £58,240.

And so, this last car begs the question: is the Bonhams auction dead? By no means. Because 80% is in any case a very good result, but above all because offering 68% of the cars without reserve is testament to the trust customers place in the Londoners, even in these difficult times.