Around the houses, September 2010

NEWS FROM THE MAIN AUCTION HOUSES AROUND THE WORLD

Gooding and Company

Two competition Ferraris will feature in Gooding and Company’s Pebble Beach sale on August 14/15. The first is a 1959 Ferrari 250GT LWB California Spider Competizione, which ran in a variety of events including the 1960 Sebring 12 Hours where it finished 12th overall. The second is a 1961 250GT SWB Berlinetta originally supplied to Count Volpi’s Scuderia Serenissima. It finished an impressive third in the Tour de France Automobile and also competed in the 1000Kms de Paris and the Daytona 3 Hour Continental. Both cars are expected to fetch over £4 million.

In the same sale Gooding lists a 1954 Fiat 8V, one of the rare V8 exotics from the Turin firm. Zagato-bodied, it competed in the 1955 and ’56 Mille Miglias and is expected to make £450,000.

RM Auctions

RM has 20 cars at its Monterey sale on August 12-14 which it expects to sell for more than $1m (£660,000). Three of these cars, recently announced for the sale, include a 1931 Bugatti Type 51 (£2.3-2.5m), a 1955 Jaguar D-type (£1.3-1.7m) and a 1938 Delahaye 135 MS Sport Roadster(£660-825,000).

The star of the show, however, is a 1958 Ferrari 250 ‘Pontoon Fender’ Testa Rossa. Although the car recorded several “successful finishes” in South America, this example doesn’t have the glittering period history of other Testa Rossas, and has a more recent body. However, it is mechanically very original, and has raced widely and very successfully in recent years. The estimate for the car is available on request.

Rob Myers, chairman and founder of RM Auctions, has announced that the company has bought the 235-acre auction park in Auburn, Indiana. A new RM subsidiary, Auctions America, has been created in order to operate the facility which will specialise in the sale of 1950s and ’60s classics.

Bonhams

The British auction house enjoyed a successful sale at the Goodwood Festival of Speed with its headline car, the ex-Yoshiyuki Hayashi 1958 model/1980s-assembled 3.8-litre Lister-Jaguar ‘Knobbly’, selling just below its £250,000 estimate at £232,500.

The car that attracted most interest, though, was the 1965 Aston Martin DB5 Vantage Volante which sold for a staggering £551,500. This particular example, which carried an estimate of £400-500,000, is one of only nine convertibles that were originally equipped with the Vantage engine.

Bonhams Australia, now fully owned by the international parent company, is making a return to activity. Its first auction will be in Sydney in September, with further details to be released soon.

Mecum

At its Bloomington Gold Corvette Auction on June 25/26 Mecum sold nearly £3m worth of Corvettes, with various examples from the 1950s and ’60s going for over £100,000. The auction house will be selling another Corvette at Monterey on August 13/14 in the shape of a DeLorenzo L88 Roadster (top). This car was raced in period in America, finishing second in the 1967 Daytona Beach SCCA run-offs. It was retired after the 1982 Canadian Road Race Championship before being restored and going on to win Bloomington Gold and Top Flight NCRS honours.

But for many people the most exciting car at Monterey will be the Le Mans class-winning 1959 Ferrari 250GT LWB Tour de France (below left). Driven by Jean Blaton/Leon Dernier, it finished third overall and first in the GT class. Earlier that year it won the Nürburgring 1000Kms race. Estimates for both cars are available on request.

H&H

A successful sale at Buxton on June 9 featured a 1963 Aston Martin DB4 Convertible which went for £297,000, a 1959 AC Ace Bristol at £170,500 and a very desirable 1951 Vincent Black Shadow motorcycle at £46,750. The event also saw the return of H&H’s online bidding facility, which helped secure various bids from around the world.