Scottsdale Collector Car Auction Preview - star cars and viewing schedules

January 16, 2017

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Some extraordinary cars will go on the block in Scottsdale with this Ford GT prototype being one of them.

This is the first functioning prototype of a very special model, and deserving of a place on the Russo & Steele Scottsdale catalog cover. Last August (2016), Russo & Steele sold the final pre-production prototype Ford GT for $836,000 in Monterey and this car should be worth more. The catch is that before selling the car from the company collection, Ford installed a chip in the engine that gives it a top speed of 5 mph. That is considered to be the reason it failed to sell when Barrett-Jackson took the car to auction last year. If you are content with your piece of history being a 5 mph sculpture instead of the 205 mph production version, this is the car for you.

Russo & Steele

Some extraordinary cars will go on the block in Scottsdale with this Ford GT prototype being one of them.

This Mercedes-Benz Typ S was bodied by Erdmann & Rossi and delivered new to the United States. The auction description is worth a read because it details how the car was once sold for $8,800. Given it is now estimated at between $5,000,000 and $6,000,000, what it fetches will be worth watching.

Bonhams

This 1952 Ferrari 340 America Spider Competizione was campaigned by Scuderia Ferrari (the factory race team) in the 1952 Mille Miglia, 24 Hours of Le Mans and Targa Florio by Piero Taruffi, Maurice Trintignant, and Giovanni Bracco. The estimate of $7,500,000 to $9,000,000 could easily translate into more than $10 million by the time the hammer falls.

Bonhams

This is the 1960 Brussels Motor Show Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider, the most important model series in Ferrari history. A 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider was the first ever car to sell for more than $10 million in 2008, five others have sold for more than $15 million since then, and with only 56 ever made. Hence it is little wonder that this car is the catalogue cover car for Bonhams in Scottsdale.

Bonhams

On many tracks around the world, the Lightweight Competition E-Type was faster than its natural in-period foe, the Ferrari 250 GTO. As you can't buy a 250 GTO for less than $50 million these days, and there are only 12 of these compared to 39 GTOs, the official estimate of $7,500,000 to $9,000,000 looks like a comparative bargain.

Bonhams

Billed as a "GTO Killer", this car won the 1963 Australian GT Championship in the hands of Bob Jane, who went on to become Australia's retail tire king with his Bob Jane T-Marts. It is just one of 12 made, and thanks to having just three owners since new, and never having been fully disassembled, it is very original.

Bonhams

The SWB Pininfarina 400SA Coupe Aerodinamico is quite some car and with only 17 produced and a prohibitive cost, they were purchased only by the rich and powerful. Owners included the Shah of Iran, Emperor Bao-Dai of Vietnam, Renato Bialetti of the Bialetti Italian kitchenware conglomerate, Fred Lip of the LIP clock and watch company and Pietro Barilla of the Italian bread and pasta company of the same name.

RM-Sothebys

$400,000 was spent on the restoration of this car, with it scoring 99 points at Pebble Beach and a host of Platinum awards at Tier 1 concours events. That's why it is on the cover of the RM-Sotheby's catalog, and why the official estimate is between $3,250,000 and $3,850,000.

RM-Sothebys

Bonhams

The Worldwide Auctioneers catalogue cover car is a very original Pininfarina-designed 1955 Lancia Aurelia GT B24S Spider America. Of the only 240 first-generation Aurelia B24 Spiders manufactured, 181 were built and delivered new in left-hand drive "S" configuration. It comes with the removable hardtop, and is in very original condition. As the auction description notes, the underside of the car displays parts of what appears to be the original factory-applied undercoating. The official estimate puts expectations between $1,200,000 and $1,500,000.

Worldwide Auctioneers

Authenticity is key to the value of any collectible and this Type 35 Bugatti is one of the most original examples in existence of the most successful racing car in history.

Gooding & Co

The Hemi 'Cuda is another of the legendary muscle cars to emerge from Detroit's "Golden Age", with the record for the model being $3.5 million achieved by Mecum in June, 2014 for a 1971 model. This particular car is going to be extra hot on the auction block because it set national records for ET and mph in NHRA and IHRA, including the SS Eliminator title at the U.S. Nationals in Indy in 1973. It won 27 eliminators in 1973 alone, and is hence one of the primary reasons the model is so sought-after. The other is rarity, as only 14 Hemi Cuda Convertibles were made. If American muscle cars warm your heart, it will be worth watching the telecast as sparks will fly.

Barrett-Jackson

This 430hp, Le Mans Blue, 427 ci L88 Corvette has undergone a rotisserie restoration and is particularly well-credentialed to challenge the record. It is fitted with factory side pipes, has just 16,482 original miles, and achieved a Triple Diamond status in 2013 with a NCRS Top Flight Award, Bloomington Gold Award and was also featured in the February 2015 issue of 'Vette magazine.

Barrett-Jackson

Cover car #3 by Barrett-Jackson is an original but fully-restored Boss 429 with Kar Kraft motor and extensive documentation as to its authenticity. Black Jade exterior and black interior. Despite this car's legendary performance, it was built in quantities too large (1358 in total) for the price to have yet climbed above the million dollar mark. The record price for the model is $605,000 achieved by Barrett-Jackson at this same auction ten years ago. Mecum sold a Boss 429 for $550,000 in Monterey in 2013, and Barrett-Jackson sold one for the same amount at Scottsdale in 2015. There have been numerous sales over $250,000 in recent years so we can't wait to see what this one fetches.

Barrett-Jackson

The Type 35 won the 1926 Grand Prix World Championship, the Targa Florio for five consecutive years (1925-1929) and at its peak, it averaged 14 race wins per week. The Bugatti Type 35 recorded more than 1000 race wins, and the only reason it isn't worth a lot more on the auction block is that a lot of them were made.

Gooding & Co

Ettore Bugatti pictured at the Grand Prix of Lyon on August 2, 1924. This was the first time the world had ever seen the Bugatti Type 35. Over the next six years, Type 35s won more than 2000 races, and gained the title of "the world's most successful racing car" – a title that is still indisputable to this day. The most obvious departure from traditional race car engineering was the use of cast aluminum wheels – just a decade earlier many Grand Prix cars still used wooden wheels. The Type 35 might as well have been from a different planet.

Gooding & Co

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Whatever your opinion might be of someone spending $30 million on an automobile, I think we'd all agree that the collectible car industry is not one of moderation. The beginning of the collector car year reflects that this industry does not do things by halves.

The industry's year effectively started with a six and a half hour television broadcast of Mecum's 10-day Kissimmee auction marathon in Florida on January 14, and proceeds through six international auctions within the space of seven days in Scottsdale, two motorcycle auctions (which combine for the biggest two-wheeled international auction event on the global calendar) in Las Vegas, then three further international auctions in Paris over three days in early February.

In January 2016, sales of collectible cars totaled $340 million: Barrett-Jackson sold $102 million; Mecum $93 million; RM-Sothebys $63 million; Gooding & Co $43 million; Russo & Steele $21 million and Bonhams $18 million.

That's more than one third of a billion dollars, and it needs to be pointed out that public auction only represents a small percentage of the total collector car marketplace because dealers, brokers and private sales make up somewhere between 70 and 90 percent of all collectible car sales.

Viewed in its entirety, this marketplace is now massive and Scottsdale is one of the top three international events, all of which occur in America (alongside Amelia Island in March and Monterey in August).

Rather than trying to dissect all the offerings this year, the most instructive overview comes from looking at the star cars – the poster cars chosen by the main auction vendors as their banner carriers. The prices fetched by these cars will be some of the primary determinants in calibrating expectations for 2017.

We've already covered one of the star cars at the Scottsdale round of car auctions, the Mercedes-Benz 540 K Special Roadster. This article covers the other poster cars from each of the auction houses fielding in Scottsdale and we'll have several other looks at the enormous collector car festival over the next week, each from a different angle.

Auction Viewing Times

Firstly, let's cover the auctions scheduled for the next week. Worldwide Auctioneers joins the fray this year, making a busy week even busier. All times quoted are local Phoenix time (MST) and most auctions are webcast, meaning you can watch the auctions live on-line from the respective websites. You can readily convert the auction times to your time zone on timeanddate.com, by time zone or city-to-city.

Monday January 16, 2017

2:00 pm | Barrett-Jackson | View Lots

Tuesday January 17, 2017

2:00 pm | Barrett-Jackson | View Lots

Wednesday January 18, 2017