RM Sotheby’s Auction – New York – 10 December 2015

We couldn’t let this one pass by without a mention of some of the big ticket sellers in New York last week.  RM Sotheby’s are now comfortably positioned as world leader when it comes to auctioning off high ticket value automobiles and hats off to them, because despite the current ‘calm’ in the classic auction market – they still managed to drum up several multiple million dollar bidders in New York last week.

Janice Joplin’s psychedelic Porsche 356C (pictured top) went under the hammer with RM next week. Estimated to fetch $400 – $600k  – sold way over estimate for $1,760,000.

1962 Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato – No. 14 of the 19 DB4 -GT’s tailor made by Zagato, this was the only one delivered to Australia which has a fantastic race record of wins in 1962. Recently restored and winner of various concourse events  –Sold for $14,300,000

The 1956 Ferrari 290 MM Scaglietti as driven by Juan Manuel Fangio to 4th overall in the 1956 Mille Miglia was the star of the show. RM launched this cool video to demonstrate the car and I suspect there was plenty of sweaty palms on both sides of the block on the day. Estimated to fetch between $28 and $32 million. It finally went for $28,050,000

It staggers me who was so desperate to own a shiny Poo brown ’75 Porsche Turbo with its 70’s beige interior so much they bid up to $330,000 dollars to own it, but I can only assume they were standing there in their flowery shirt, side burns and flares and missed out on the Janis Joplin 356!

Full results can be found here

Bonhams Bond Street Sale – 6 December

Meanwhile on the other side of the water, at the Bonhams London Bond Street Sale two interesting Healeys went under the hammer on the 6th December.

1953 Austin Healey S Coupe – One of just two Coupes ever built, ‘ONX 113′ was used by Donald Healey himself for 10 years, this one is regarded as the better of the two which went under the hammer last week from the Arthur Carter Collection for the first time in 40 years. With 100S’ now fetching £650K, this one-off Healey went for a fairly modest £639,900

1959 Austin Healey Ex Works Rally – Another special Healey from the Arthur Carter Collection is this Ex ‘John Gott’  Works 3000 Rally car in Competition Mod/Sports specification. The Mod/Sports Specification is a disguise which could be easily rectified by the new owner to return the car to its period race specification. It was estimated to fetch a modest £140,000 – £200,000 and sold for £191,900 – a bargain!

Full results from the Bonhams Auction can be found here

Report by Sarah Bennett-Baggs