Bids soar at Arizona auctions

 

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ.–For car lovers and collectors, this was the place to be last week. With four major automotive auctions going on, vehicles of every era, style and price could be found.

Barrett-Jackson – also known as The Circus – showcased 1,050 cars in six days. Russo and Steele featured 500 cars over four days. The more refined RM Auctions and Gooding and Company each held smaller, one-day events featuring rare, high-end vehicles. But each auction shared a single common goal: to get hobbyists and collectors to buy their vehicles.

Nika Rolczewski gets caught up in auction mania

 

And buy they did. Saturday brought the top price paid for any vehicle here. Gooding and Company's unrestored 1960 Ferrari 250 GT California Spider SWB (Short Wheel Base) sold for $4.95 million (all figures U.S.) to an undisclosed collector.

Ferrari historian and author David Seibert says the Ferrari 250 GT California Spider is by far one of the most beautiful road cars Ferrari ever built. When new, it sold for $12,000 to $14,000. So why is it worth so much now?

Only about 50 of the short-wheel-base versions were ever made, which makes them extremely rare, and few owners are willing to sell.

The same model of Ferrari holds the record for the highest price paid at auction. A 1961 Ferrari California Spider sold for $10.89 million at RM Auctions' May 2008 event in Maranello, Italy. That car was worth so much more because it was once owned by actor James Coburn.

A 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport Roadster, chassis No. 002 – Chevrolet only built five – was the feature attraction among the 122 vehicles up for bid at RM Auctions. Grand Sports have always been surrounded by an aura of intrigue.

In the words of writer Brock Yates: "Periodically, one of the five Grand Sports appeared, raced around at shocking speeds, and then plunged back into mysterious seclusion."

However, bidding stalled at $5 million and the car was taken off the block. An RM Auctions spokesperson said there was interest in the car and the company is confident it will change hands in the near future.

Only Barrett-Jackson had a "no reserve" policy – meaning that each car would be sold no matter how low the bid. This provided for some comparative bargains. A 1992 Ferrari 512TR that would normally sell for $105,000 to $110,000 went for $84,700.

Super Saturday, as it is called, featured big-money cars but Barrett-Jackson's top seller wasn't even a car – it was a 1929 Ford Tri-Motor Airplane.

The price: $1.21 million.

As for actual vehicles, the highest bid went to the first-production Ford Thunderbird convertible, built in September 1954 with a base price of less than $3,000.

It sold for $660,000.

Rob Myers, CEO and founder of RM Auctions, came to his first Scottsdale auction in 1976.

"Back then, it wasn't a marketplace but a hobby. It has evolved," he said, estimating that $150 million will exchange hands at the auctions.

Post-auction and private sales should boost that number to $250 million.

Myers said people "park their money in cars" during tough economic times.

As the gavel fell for the final time, RM's sales surpassed $18 million, as 83 per cent of its cars were sold, many for higher than their estimated value. Gooding and Company posted sales of $32.4 million.

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