Auction view, with Richard Hudson-Evans
Although a Jaguar XK SS ran out of live bids at an insufficient $11.9m (£9.76m) on the scoreboard, a 1998 Porsche 911 GT1, one of 20 of the more Strassen- friendly versions, did cross the block at the recent Gooding and Company Amelia Island auction to clock up a $5.67m (£4.65m) result. Top among the Gooding Brits for sale was the 1949 DB2 that represented the birth of Aston Martin’s DB line, as the factory development car and prototype for the model. Specially built for the personal use of company owner David Brown, this was the first Aston to be equipped with the marque’s new six-cylinder LB6 engine and was subsequently raced by works driver Lance Macklin in the Coppa InterEuropa and Targa Floria. It realised $1,540,000 (£1.27m).
Meanwhile, across at RM Sotherby’s Amelia Island event, a 1937 Bugatti Type 57S, one of only three to sport Vanvooren of Paris Cabrio coachwork and offered for public sale for the first time in its 80-year history, sold at the $70.77m (£58.03m) bonanza for $7.7m (£6.31m). This topped the prices of the Big Three’s auctions at the location this year, after which 275 mainly high end investor-automobiles had changed portfolios for $111.18m (£91.17m) and an overall sale rate of 86 per cent had been achieved.
The 5694-mile from new in 1995 Ferrari F50 originally delivered to heavyweight champion boxer Mike Tyson went for $2.64m (£2.16m). RM Sotheby’s also claimed two new world record auction prices for a 1929 Stutz Model M Supercharged Coupé, one of only three Blown Stutzes sold for $1.71m (£1.4m), and a two registered owner 1956 Bentley S1 Continental Drophead made $1.68m (£1.38m).
‘275 automobiles changed portfolios for $111.18m (£91.17m)’