READY, SET, AUCTION
Justin Bieber’s Ferrari front and centre
Hundreds of millions of dollars changed hands at seven classic-vehicle auctions in the Phoenix area last week, with sales generally up over the previous year, and some of the most interesting and rare classics changing hands. All prices have a 10 per cent buyer’s fee added after the sale.
Grammy award- winning Canadian singer- songwriter Justin Bieber was cheered by tens of thousands of spectators at the Barrett- Jackson Auction as his customized 2011 Ferrari 458 Italia F1 Edition sports car was hammered down at $395,000 (all prices U.S.). Also in the stratosphere was a customized 1965 VW 21-window bus featured on the television show Bitchin’ Rides that sold for $275,000.
The first two Pontiac Firebirds off the production line — a red convertible with serial number 001 and a silver hardtop 002 — sold as a pair for $235,000.
Many Canadians sold classic cars at the Arizona auctions to take advantage of the U.S. dollar, adding about one third to the sale price when converted to Canadian bucks.
Convertibles built in the 1950s brought lower prices than expected, with the exception of well- restored Chevrolet Bel Air droptops built from 1955 to 1957. A twotone blue 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible crossed the block bringing a sale price of $185,000. The 10 per cent buyer’s commission puts the sale price over $200,000.
Vancouver’s Wayne Darby, who brought 21 cars to the sale, was happy with the sale of his 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible, which sold for $ 100,000. But the prices for two Buicks he brought to the Barrett-Jackson Auction were disappointing: A twotone blue 1956 Century convertible sold on the block for $60,000 and a sky blue 1954 Skylark sold for $85,000, well below anticipated sale prices. Curiously, two 1967 Corvette roadsters with the 427 cubic inch, 435- horsepower engine he brought to the sale were far apart in price: a Lyndale Blue example sold for $137,000, while his Goodwood Green example brought only $97,000.
The three beautifully restored Thunderbirds he brought to t he auction, representing each of the three years the two- seater T- Birds were built starting in 1955, didn’t cross the $ 50,000 threshold on the auction block — falling short of his valuation. “I guess there are just too many restored Thunderbirds being offered for sale,” he said philosophically.
Car collector/restorer Dave Gold from Nanaimo brought his well- optioned turquoise and white 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible to the Russo & Steele Auction; the car brought a winning bid of only $49,000. “It was an older restoration and we are okay with that price,” he said after the car ran through the auction.
So- called restomods — cars restored with modern features added — brought huge dollars, including a 1962 Corvette custom that sold for $240,000.
Full classics, such as a 1930 Duesenberg J dual-cowl phaeton, brought average prices, with this one selling for $ 800,000, where they once commanded millionplus prices.
Wayne Carini, car restorer and host of the Velocity Channel television series Chasing Classic Cars, says there has never been more interest in the hobby, with a surge of new buyers coming into the marketplace, largely driven by popular televised series, including his own, which is shown all over the world. In town to shoot two segments of his show at the BarrettJackson Auction, he says the market movers are the highdollar, uber-restored and rare classics and pickup trucks.
A case in point was a “restomod” 1950 Chevrolet pickup rebuilt with all modern components that was featured at the last year’s Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association (SEMA) show in Las Vegas.
It sold for a whopping $187,000; the 10 per cent buyer’s fee pushes the cost over $200,000. Carini says vintage motorcycles are also up and coming hot auction items.
“You would never see motorcycles at the Gooding & Company auction in the past, but here they are,” he says, pointing to a row of classic motorcycles, including a 1952 Vincent Black Shadow.
Another surprise not often seen at auction was a pair of barn finds: a 1958 Porsche 356A Super Speedster stored for 45 years in Southern California with a stated value of $200,000 to $275,000, and a one-family owned 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL gull-wing that had also been stored for decades. The gull- wing sold for $1.457 million, exceeding Gooding & Company sale estimates of between $900,000 and $1.1 million.
On the well-bought side, a 1947 Chrysler wood- bodied Town & Country convertible sold for $77,000 at Gooding.
Carini did well, with his own 1973 Porsche 911S selling in Saturday prime time at the Barrett- Jackson Auction for $ 185,000 while the cameras were rolling.