AUCTION/SHOWROOM/CLASSIFIED MARKETWATCH

Your average motor trader might start to wind down as December approaches, but these days classic auctions carry on quite late into winter. David Sutherland took a look at some of the pre-christmas action

Traditionally the car market, classic and mainstream, has gone into hibernation over the Christmas period. Knowing few punters are in the mood to make a purchase, many dealers close up shop and, depending on how good sales have been throughout the year, head for some faraway winter sun or stay at home and watch Netflix.

But every year the classic auction business seems to make more and more effort to ignore Christmas, with sales now running into December whereas before most activity petered out after September or October. So what were people paying for their rather nice early Christmas presents?

RM Sotheby’s, now easily the most ambitious international auction house, staging 13 major classic car sales in 2017 (nine in the US, two in Italy and one in France and one in the UK) and for the last four years number one by value of cars sold, pushed its calendar into early December with its Icons sale in New York. The cash flowing through RM’S bank account totalled $45.5m (about £33.5m), although almost a third of that was for a 1959 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spider Competizione, while a Jaguar C-type accounted for a further $5.3m (£3.9m) and a Bugatti Chiron for $3.8m (£2.8m).

Porsches do not generally rival classic Ferraris on price, but a 2015 918 Spyder in “Weissach” spec with just 230 miles made it into the Icons top 10, selling for $1,732,000 (£1,275,300). That price was towards the lower end of its pre-sale estimate, but it is nonetheless more evidence that although it’s believed Porsche struggled to sell all the cars new (918 were built), they are now headed for classic superstardom, especially the 230 Weissach models with their stripped back trim.

But aside from this star lot, other Porsches in the New York event did not provide their sellers with the expected Christmas bonus, and that can be the result of one thing only – over optimistic reserves. A 911 GT2 from 1996, originally delivered in Japan and showing 11,470km (7170 miles) was expected to sell for between $1.1m and $1.4m (£810,000–£1.0m) but this ultimate 993, one of 194 built, did not find a Yuletide inspired purchaser.

The 2003–2007 Carrera GT took time to win collectors’ hearts, partly because too many (1270) were made, but eventually it did, which is why the Icons seller requiring a seemingly not outrageous $775,000–$850,000 (£570,700–£625,900) for a 2004 car that has covered only 695 miles and has not even been registered might have been disappointed. The third did-not-sell was a matching numbers 1966 911 entered with a $200,000– $250,000 (£147,300– £184,000) hope. It had been with the original owner for nearly five decades and had been re-commissioned but not restored.

In London, in early December, Bonhams held two classic car sales within four days of each other. No Porsches featured in the first, and only two were in the second, but they did give us a worthwhile indication of what might be classed as the “working man’s” Porsche now costs. The 1989–1993 964model was once the unloved and unvalued 911, but it was forgiven for its unfortunate plastic body addenda some time ago and the 63,000-mile Carrera – moth-balled in 2002 and re-commissioned in 2013 – found a buyer at £51,750, in the middle of its pre-sale estimate range.

The 928 was disregarded for even longer than the 964, but we’ve seen these cars – adventurously styled, but now a vintage version of the future – collecting new fans in the last year or two. The seller would have been happy with £24,000–£28,000, but his or her Christmas fund received an extra boost when bidding for the 1986 S2 with 59,000 miles, a detailed history and a number of concours trophies rose to £32,200.

Nothing particularly expensive was sold at the late November event hosted by Historics at Brooklands, one of our favourite “local” auction companies, but there were plenty of interesting Porsches. No one wanted the left-handdrive, Japan-sourced 2008 997 GT3 RS, with an assumed reserve somewhere between £115,000 and £140,000, even though it was certified never raced or rallied.

A brave seller put a 2004 Boxster S550 Anniversary special edition model, one of 1953 cars, into the sale with no reserve, and got £12,880 for the 55,600-mile roadster. That looked about right for an original Boxster in good nick.

Air-cooled 911s can still be found for “real world” money, although you can’t be fussy about model, spec or colour. Just £25,760 secured a 106,000-mile, 1990 Carrera 2 Cabriolet; the rather sudden Cobalt Blue paint, white Linen seats and Tiptronic automatic gearbox no doubt kept it affordable. A 1996 993 911 Carrera Targa with 112,000 miles went for nearly £11,200 more, but that still looked reasonable for what at least until recently was the most coveted of the later air-cooled 911 generations.

The 914 isn’t a car seen often in UK auctions, so it was interesting to note that this is clearly a Porsche that is finally beginning to fulfil its classic potential. For many years, £5000 seemed about as much as it was sensible to pay for the Volkswagen-porsche collaboration of the late 1960s, but Historics hammered a 1972 2.0-litre 914 at £12,320, in the middle of its reserve range.

Normally, an even rarer sight at auction or anywhere else is a Porsche tractor. But, as we reported last month, Silverstone Auctions recently sold a 1962 Standard J model for £15,525 – and another, this time a 1957 Allgaier Tractor AP18, popped up at Historics, making £11,200. There’s more to Porsche than sports cars, but they seem to already know that in Zuffenhausen. PW