RM Sotheby's Auction in Dubai: Different Country, Top Lot Found
14 December 2024 11 min read 8 images
Photo credit: RM Sotheby’s
It doesn’t feel like five years have passed — it feels like much more! On November 30, 2019, during the Abu Dhabi F1 Grand Prix, RM held its first auction in the Middle East. The results were disappointing, prompting the renowned auction house to withdraw for nearly five years. However, this year, RM returned to Dubai with two auctions, and this time, the results aligned with expectations. In truth, the Emirati collecting scene has changed significantly: in the past five years, Dubai has hosted the Mille Miglia Experience UAE, starting in Dubai, and Abu Dhabi has welcomed the Cavallino Classic Middle East — both world-class events. The numbers from the latest auction were encouraging: 41 cars offered, with 30 sold, translating to a strong 73.17%. The estimated value was an impressive $33,710,000, and the final sales totaled an extraordinary $27,822,825 — almost 83% of the estimate. The average price of $928,428 highlighted a strong focus on the high-end market, though prices may take time to stabilize.
Strangely, as in 2019, in 2024 the most expensive car was also a Pagani. This year it was a 2014 Pagani Zonda LM Roadster. It was part of the customization program, or rather "unicization", called "Grandi Complicazioni" (a name that says it all), made almost entirely of carbon and had only covered 9,604 km. The current record for the model was set by a Zonda Aether sold in Abu Dhabi (in 2019), a 2017 Zonda Aether auctioned for $6,812,500. Five years later, the LM Roadster offered this time by RM came to auction with an estimate "exceeding $12,000,000", effectively doubling the model's valuation in a lustrum. Even though it didn’t reach that amount, it still went for $11,086,250, thus becoming the most expensive road car of the 21st century ever sold at auction.
The second car of the auction was another Pagani, a 2017 Huayra BC Coupé, one of 20 examples of the “BC” (Benny Caiola, their first customer and great collector) series produced with the track in mind. The 6.0 V12 biturbo from AMG develops 827 HP, all distributed to the rear wheels. A strange thing was that the catalog did not include the mileage: usually, these cars do very few kilometers annually, and here every kilometer counts. In this case, it had been at least four years since one had been up for sale, and the current record was $2,420,000. The seller must have been pleasantly surprised when RM experts estimated it "over $4,500,000". It closed at $4,336,250. Curiously, both these cars had documents from the small Principality of Andorra, making it easy to think they belonged to the same collector. He must have celebrated quite a bit!
Another useful thing to remember emerged from this auction regarding the more than disappointing results of a series of Ferraris from the Petitjean collection sold in February 2022 at a Paris auction: the first is that “car flipping” is not for everyone. It’s not enough to have lots of money and "throw" whatever figure when buying, hoping everything will grow. It’s not true, and if, on top of that, gross mistakes are made when selling, the risk can turn into certainty: careful market study and potential prices are very important. The second is that, as my mechanic says, “cars are like people; if they don’t move, they deteriorate”. Buying and abandoning them is never a good idea, and this was certainly the case. Then there is a third lesson: when buying a car at auction to resell, you should somewhat “mask” the provenance. In this case, almost as if not wanting to hide anything, the seller provided the same photos from the Paris auction! Those following the market will notice and also know the prices paid.
So let’s see what happened with this dozen Ferraris: the Ferrari 308 GTS from 1978, paid €101,200, was resold for just $50,700. The 1978 308 GTB went from €80,500 to $43,700, the Dino 308 GT4 slipped from €71,300 to $46,000. And I could continue with the €69,000 paid for a GTS Turbo that turned into $43,700 or, for the same figure, a 1984 308 GTB QV paid €71,875. The only car that held its own was a 1986 Ferrari Testarossa Monospecchio: paid €186,250, it managed to rise to $218,500. A disaster carefully prepared!
Returning to the auction, the choice of vehicles was interesting: not just immaculate hypercars but also a collection of Mercedes-Benz G-Class models. Four of the most coveted versions of the model: a 2001 G55 AMG Cabriolet, a 2005 G55 AMG (in a curious sky blue shade), a 2002 G63 AMG (ex-royal family of Dubai), and a gigantic Maybach G650 Landaulet, the most recent as it was from 2018. Excluding the latter (the estimate of $650,000–$750,000 seemed excessive even to my eyes—perhaps out of respect for the Royal House?), the other three caused sparks.
The V12 of the G63 pushed the price to $398,750, at the top of the $350,000–$400,000 estimate. The G55 AMG, despite a color not liked by everyone, was one of three examples produced with right-hand drive, which could justify the $218,500, well above the $150,000–$200,000 estimate. The oldest but also the last to be auctioned was the G55 AMG Cabriolet, which, despite relatively high mileage (120,000 km), benefited from its rarity (just 12 produced) and smashed its $100,000–$120,000 estimate: hammering at $184,000.
Another Mercedes-Benz truly stunned, and this can be a great lesson for the European market too. A 2000 CL55 AMG F1 Limited Edition. The CL was already the flagship of Mercedes coupes (based on the S-Class), plus it was the AMG version, and this was the limited F1 Limited Edition series. Only 55 were produced, and it was the first production car in the world to feature carbon-ceramic brakes. In its early years, this model never exceeded $30,000 until 2021, when one slipped away for $44,500. In November 2021, this very example, at the time with 48,000 km, sold for $63,000. This time, with an additional 10,000 km, estimated at $40,000–$60,000, it reached $77,625, setting a record.
The car I would have taken home was a 2013 McLaren 12C GT Sprint, one of 14 examples developed by the McLaren GT department and equipped with a 616 BHP engine. This car is the pinnacle of track-day fun, more capable than a road version but less demanding than a GT3. However, like all track cars, it suffers greater depreciation compared to its road-legal counterparts. Brand new, it cost $385,000, but here, estimated at $70,000–$90,000 without reserve, it went for $86,250. It was in perfect condition. A bargain.
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