RM’S Guikas sale disappoints
No-reserve collection clearout doesn’t quite live up to its buzz
RM Sotheby’s heavily publicised the no-reserve sale of 77 mostly high-end cars from the Jean Guikas Collection at the Circuit Paul Ricard, but the prices achieved didn’t exactly set the classic world on fire. Bidding was far from brisk and almost two-thirds of the cars on offer sold for less than their low estimate. Some of that can be explained away by many of those estimates being on the ambitious side, but plenty of buyers will have gone home feeling they got the better end of the deal.
One of those bagged the gorgeous two-owner, low-mileage 1963 Facel II that was our last issue’s Market Headliner. We reckoned it would be a smart buy at anywhere from £200k-£250k (RM had it estimated at £235k-£270k). It was actually snapped up for £188,455. How smart is that?
Similar can be said of the 1958 Ferrari 250GT Cabriolet S1. Number 23 of just 40 built, it was a proper bluechip car, well documented and with matching numbers. It’s only real demerit was being black rather than the original white, though that’s rarely a deal-breaker. RM’S low estimate was a fairly feisty £4.6m – our guide values placed it at £4m-£4.4m. The buyer ultimately took the car home for a nicely discounted £3.7m.
Even the sale’s headline act, a 1955 Ferrari 250GT Berlinetta Competizione shown at the 1955 Turin Motor Show, underperformed on the day. It was perhaps hurt by a lack of period competition history, but still looked cheap at £5.2m against a £5.9m-£7.5m estimate.
It was one of the bit-part players that stole the show value-wise – a lovely 1969 Alfa Romeo 1750 ‘boattail’ Spider that was pitched with a strong-looking £50k top estimate. Somebody actually thought it was worth paying £69,500 for.
So once again we see everyday classics scoring well while rarefied collectables struggle to find their mark. However, the sale did still gross £32.9m, so Jean Guikas’ bank account is well-primed for his next deal.