US Auctions: the records never end!
10 February 2022 3 min read 16 images
Keep the records coming! RM and Barrett-Jackson put on a firework display of successes at Arizona Week.
Let’s take a look at the numbers: Barrett-Jackson sold all 1,773 cars on offer, all without reserve, with takings for cars alone of $196,091,465 (€171,704,549). Adding motorcycles, tractors and automobilia, the final takings exceeded 205 million dollars.
Mecum, a few days earlier, had made 201 and 217 million respectively. But we must remember that the previous record was 159 million and now... bam! Moreover, in two auctions just a few days apart, with Barrett-Jackson who sold almost $93 million worth of cars only on Saturday, it’s hard to remember events similar to this.
RM, with just 67 cars on offer and 64 sold, took in a mind-blowing $34,898,460 (€30,558,313), with 95.52% of sales, exceeding the excellent results of 2021 which stopped at 87.34%, while offering fewer cars than last year. Even more significantly, just two years ago, before the Covid-19 outbreak, the 135 cars sold brought in just $29.9 million.
The market has changed and you can see it clearly by analysing the results of the individual cars.
Let’s start with RM, whose top lot was a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing with the very rare aluminium bodywork. With an estimate of $7m-$9m it was sold for $6,825,000 (€5,976,205) which is a new record for the model.
A new record was also set for a 1994 Bentley Continental IV Convertible. One of just seven examples produced, this model was the only black one to leave the factory, and had covered just 15,000 miles from new. The estimate of $140,000-$160,000 was immediately brushed aside, as a storm of offers took the value up to a staggering $296,500 (€259,625), a number that surpasses even its Rolls Royce Corniche Convertible “cousin”.
Among the most curious records, I can’t help but mention the DeLorean DMC12. The 80s are fashionable once more, and Back to the Future is a cult movie (even the Toyota SR5 driven by Marty McFly is on the rise). This 1981 model had just 174 miles on the clock since new, and so it was practically immaculate. It exceeded its estimate of $90,000-$120,000 and sold for $123,200 (€107,878).
Barrett-Jackson was no different. On the contrary, there were some pretty impressive fireworks on display!
Just a few weeks ago, Mecum set a new world record for a Ford GT Heritage Edition ($715,000 with just 250 miles on the clock) but Barrett-Jackson brought something even better: one with just 24 miles to its credit. Obviously, the record was just around the corner and so it was: $797,500 (€698,315).
A 1965 Shelby GT350 Fastback, one of the first 562 examples built (the 257th to be precise), very rare steel wheels and probably the only one without any stripes on the hood. The fans in the room clearly understood the value of the car and battled it out all the way up to $687,500 (€602,000), roughly double the last few examples we’ve seen change hands. Remarkable.
We’ll close with yet another record, this time a 2004 Porsche Carrera GT. Resplendent in the classic silver livery with black interior, the car had covered just 1,547 miles, and of course the sale went beyond all expectations: $1,980,000 (€1,733,755). Towards the end of 2019 - beginning of 2020, the value of this car sat around the $750,000-$800,000 mark, then at Monterey Car Week in August 2021 the price flew up to $1,210,000 (€1,059,518). Previous buyers will be more than satisfied with this sale.
It’s also interesting to see how far our forecasts deviated from reality:
The two Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing cars, for example. The one from Barrett-Jackson was sold for $1,870,000 (€1,637,435). The other at RM went for $1,710,000 (€1,497,335) so 8.56% less. However, two highly respectable numbers.
Another car to follow was the Jaguar E-Type S3 V12 Roadster, transformed into a restomod by Beacham with the supercharged V8 from the newer XKR, changed hands for $214,500 (€187,825), while two regular models changed hands for $59,400 (€52,012) and $93,500 (€81,871). A result that’s far higher than I had expected.
Finally, the Chevrolet Corvette C8 Z06, sold with all proceeds going to charity: I had bet that the hammer would fall at $2.5m-$3m but in the end it went for $3,700,000 (€3,239,850), the most expensive lot of the entire sale. But here, charity had a lot to do with that.
I had recommended following the Aurelia B24S Spider America with Fontana hardtop and Nardi air intakes from RM, in order to try to understand whether it would follow the series of five consecutive unsold lots. So now it’s six- Unsold during the event but a deal was reached for $940,000 (€823,095) after the auction. The estimate of $900,000-$1.2m had led me to say that it would have been sold towards the higher end of the fork. Now I know that the market is no longer championing this model.
The other car I had my eye on was a 1965 Ferrari 275 GTB, shortnose with a price of $1.5m-$2m. The final sale price of $1,875,000 (€1,641,815) is a great result.
Third, and final lot of my preview was the Porsche 911 Turbo S with an estimate that was simply stellar in my opinion: $490,000-$540,000, but the market had other ideas because it changed hands for $610,000 (€534,135).
CLASSIC CAR MATCHER