Jaguar E-type makes £6m
In selling for $7.37 million under the gavel during the Arizona sales (£6,002,681), Bonhams’ 1963 Australian GT Championship-winning Jaguar E-type Factory Lightened Competition became both the most valuable E-type and the most valuable post-1960 Jaguar ever to sell at auction. The Scottsdale sale saw 85 of the 105 cars (and one scooter) offered changing hands for £29.59m well before winter sundown.
Apart from the E-type price-buster, a 1952 Ferrari 340 America Vignale Spider Competizione also sold at the Westin Kierland Resort and Spa for $6.38m (£5.2m), a 1928 Mercedes-Benz Type S 26/120/189 Supercharged Sports-Tourer by Erdmann & Rossi made $4.81m (£3.92m) and a 1931 Alfa Romeo 6C Supercharged Zagato Spider sold for $2.81m (£2.28m). A 1955 Austin-Healey 100S fetched $539k (£439,002) and the 1984 Ferrari 308 GTB QV driven by Tom Selleck in the Magnum PI TV series during the 1984/5 season persuaded a nostalgic viewer to part with $181.5k (£147.8k). Compare that to the average investment in the futures of old cars bought in the Bonhams Pavilion this year – £348,073!
By the end of this ten-day auction bonanza, the total spend at the seven collector automobile sales amounted to just under $260m (more than £210m), which was just over £6m (or 3 per cent) more than the January 2016 sales total. A total of 1980 of the 2650 vehicles offered eventually had crossed the auction block – that’s 75 per cent of the total entry having sold.
The biggest grossing event was RM Sotheby’s bash in Phoenix, where a two-evening sale generated $53.65m (£44.53m), 139 of the 156 cars consigned leading to an average spend of $385.971 (£312,640). Top seller was a one-off 1939 Mercedes 540K Special Roadster, which sold for $6.6m (£5.35m).
‘The Ferrari 308 GTS QV Tom Selleck drove in
Magnum PI sold for £148k’