Excellent cars continue to sell well, and quality/provenance/documentation will continue to be trump cars. I sold my 1929 Chrysler 75 (ex-MM x 3, ex-LMC 2012) for a world-record public price with RM in Paris, which tells me 2 additional things, in addition to quality - which the car had in spades - being Number One: #2: eligibility (for top-tier shows/tours/races) matters; the more you can 'do' with a car, the more valuable it will be vs its peers, and #3: sporting pre-War is still a spectacular segment. My prediction is sporting pre-War will be well in demand in 10-30 years when a Countach is still just another Countach.
Anybody has the full results from the Bonhams auction? Their site has some sale prices but no info on a suspiciously large number of cars. It seems unlikely that many cars didn't sell.
With a reported 30,000 kms on the clock and no service history since 2005 I thought the sale price of the F50 was pretty good.
If Bonhams don't list a sale price it usually means they haven't sold the car in the sale itself. Expect they will pushing for some post sale deals though. Simon Kidston commented a couple of years ago that the Grand Palais where Bonhams held the sale costs a fortune to rent. That must put them under pressure in terms of the profitability of the sale. A guess a large number of cars (and this was a big sale) spreads the risk of not making their money back on the rental. It can also result in a lower sell through rate as seen here. Be interesting to see how Artcurial do today.
Just a little feedback from Paris, again the same story, I spent yesterday at Retro and the quality of cars offered is shocking, the spread between grade A and the rest is widening. Dealers offering very poor examples and the reason... Lack of quality cars, people not willing to sell the right cars, I heard this from most dealers at the show. However there were some fantastic examples offered as well but these were top money, factory restored cars were the top money, and some fantastic specialist restorations as well. There was a lack Grade A original cars, I saw 2 f40's both being sold as original, both painted and very poor examples. Show was extremely busy and mood was extremely buoyant. What really shocked me was how many years in advance restoration companies are booked for work, many were 2 to 3 years now for full restorations.
Just a little feedback from Paris, again the same story, I spent yesterday at Retro and the quality of cars offered is shocking, the spread between grade A and the rest is widening. Dealers offering very poor examples and the reason... Lack of quality cars, people not willing to sell the right cars, I heard this from most dealers at the show. However there were some fantastic examples offered as well but these were top money, factory restored cars were the top money, and some fantastic specialist restorations as well. There was a lack Grade A original cars, I saw 2 f40's both being sold as original, both painted and very poor examples. Show was extremely busy and mood was extremely buoyant. What really shocked me was how many years in advance restoration companies are booked for work, many were 2 to 3 years now for full restorations.
Just a little feedback from Paris, again the same story, I spent yesterday at Retro and the quality of cars offered is shocking, the spread between grade A and the rest is widening. Dealers offering very poor examples and the reason... Lack of quality cars, people not willing to sell the right cars, I heard this from most dealers at the show. However there were some fantastic examples offered as well but these were top money, factory restored cars were the top money, and some fantastic specialist restorations as well. There was a lack Grade A original cars, I saw 2 f40's both being sold as original, both painted and very poor examples. Show was extremely busy and mood was extremely buoyant. What really shocked me was how many years in advance restoration companies are booked for work, many were 2 to 3 years now for full restorations.
I believe Retromobile still offers one of the best show worldwide and I don't share previous comments about dealers. The stars (Fiskens, Axel Schuette, Ascott, Meiners, KW, Huni...) have made a real effort to consign and reveal on day 1 some pristine examples of the best possible cars. Not the same can be said for auctions. Almost all 80's Ferrari did not sell though the room was active. As stated by some, we are back to early 2014 expectations in terms of pricing for non A grade cars so reserve price is not met. Some of the cars were consigned last year and expectations from sellers were higher... Bonhams did not do well. Artcurial has plenty to offer and they should have a few records. First they are almost the only French player consigning a lot of French family cars that have never been on the market. Second, they don't have many sales in a year so they keep the best cars for Retromobile. So I expect a few great prices, esp. on truly original cars. Ferrari 330GTC at no reserve is the wrong color but should sell well, lot of expectations around Agnelli Testarossa Spider which should go a lot higher than their estimates, 250 SWB is perfect but Swiss registered so hard to sell, 335S should be sold if I believe what I have heard.
So is it that the quality of cars in auctions has changed a lot over the last 6-12 months or that as prices have escalated buyers have become more selective?
1.020M for the Agnelli Testarossa Spider. Even though it broke the top estimate I think long term that's a bit of a bargain. It's a unique 12 cylinder open factory Ferrari with special ownership provenance after all.
Yes, striking car (and I'm not even a big fan of Testarossas), great history/ownership, one of a kind. How can you go wrong! One day this will be viewed as a great buy...
Artcurial live here: Rétromobile 2016 by Artcurial Motorcars | Watch Auction Live | Artcurial I'm amazed at how fast they turn everything over. Very quick auctions. Wonder if that helps more than it hampers results.
Exactly my thoughts. Been to quite some auctions but these French are eh so to say very special..... Cacafonie and unorganised. A bit like, well the French...... The 1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA fetched over 300k....( yes euro) Ciao Oscar
During the bidding for the green DB4, they actually banged the hammer before bidding was finished, and had to take it back.... A bit of a mess.... Actually they just did it again while I was typing this, with the 308 GTS, but considered it sold......
EUR 28 million for the 335 S. I think if the car was sold at a better auction it would have gone for more. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Exactly. I thought it would never get out of the 27s. Classic quotes such as "only 100,000 Euros more; would you like 100 more sir?; we can accept 50,000 more."