The classics. Auctions at record sales

A truly memorable event took place in London last September, when Sotheby’s at Battersea Evolution took a record £21.6 million. And this is not an exaggerated overall figure, the company has exceeded that amount for an individual GTO or Testarossa, but what counts is the signal it gives to the collectors’ world and to the economy in general. Classic and vintage cars remain, or rather, are increasingly seen as a safe haven. Proof of this, in particular, was seen by the enthusiasm of the participants, a third of which were attending “for the first time”, a further sign of renewed interest and also of new markets, confirmed by the 33 nationalities present. The most important statistic was the 76% sell-through rate - great publicity above all for the “Duemila Ruote” (2000 Wheels), an auction of eight hundred models to be held at the Milan Trade Fair ground at the end of November, at the same time as Milano AutoClassica, and the largest car auction ever to be held in Europe. Stars of the show in London were the vehicles from a rare Porsche collection, including a “911 GT2“from 1995 and a “911 Turbo S Lightweight“from 1993, which sold for £1,848,000 and £974,400 respectively. Extremely beautiful and very well kept, the first car, in a blue colour, had only 12,730 kilometres on the clock, just one owner and was the last 911 to be air cooled only. And it was the year in which four-wheel drive was “banned” from competitions, meaning GT2 homologation became a must. The “Turbo S“is a rare car because only 86 were made, but this model was distinguished by yellow inserts, and even a yellow body on the inside. These details made it particularly coveted, as well as the fact that it was a special lighter model, some 180 kilograms lighter than the Turbo II. We need to go back thirty years to discover another one of the highest-selling cars of the auction, an example of the Aston Martin “DB4 Series V Convertible”,