Steady As She Goes: British marques are strong at Scottsdale


The best Astons, Jaguars and Austin-Healeys stayed strong at Scottsdale, as records were set and overall sales jumped £15 million

The Arizona auctions provided their usual three-ring circus of entertainment in January 2012, and while there were fewer big-ticket cars this year (most having been grabbed for Monterey last summer), the total for the 2,000 cars, sold by six auction houses, still topped $182 million. That’s more than $20 million more than 2011.

Barrett-Jackson led the way with 270,000 visitors and 90.6M from 13,222 cars, Gooding & Co registered $39.8M from 116 cars, RM netted $24.7M from 126 cars, Russo & Steele did $18.2M, newcomer Bonhams $5.7M, and Silver Auctions $2.95M, 20 miles away at Fort McDowell.

High sale was the alloy-bodied 1955 Gullwing Mercedes-Benz at Gooding for $4.62M. Gooding also got $3.9M for a Ferrari 250GT LWB California Spyder, $2.64M for a 1930 Duesenberg Model J Disappearing Top convertible and $2.145M for a 1929 Bentley 4 ½-litre tourer. Over at Barrett-Jackson, one of 51 Tuckers more than doubled the previous high at $2.915M, while a 1947 Franay-bodied Bentley sold for $2.75M, and a twice-repainted steel 1954 Mercedes-Benz steel Gullwing, with a reported 4,314 miles, hammered down for $2.2M.

If you’re thinking of buying a muscle car, only the very best documented examples command prices anywhere near three or four years ago. Non-matching- number examples and phony “tributes” to high-horsepower cars are a dubious investment,  no matter how much money was spent on them. However, they offer a lot of “bang for the buck,” if you can ignore all the tear stains on the upholstery.

So how did English cars do at Scottsdale this year? It’s hard to count the Franay Bentley, as it looks like a Delahaye with a Bentley grille grafted onto it, but it sold for more than $1 million over its last appearance a couple of years ago. Gooding also doubled the going rate for a standard 4 ½-litre Bentley. 

Bonhams had the most impressive English car there, but it was just a teaser for the Goodwood sale this summer. That was George Daniels’ ex-Tim Birkin single-seater, 4 ½-litre blower Bentley, one of five factory cars, still in its original dark red and possessor of a 137mph Brooklands Outer Circuit medal. Simon Kidston, who has his own direct family connection to the Bentley boys, was busy taking photographs and observed that with a two-seater body it might have brought as high as £$9.45M, but he wasn’t sure how much the single seat would hurt it. Nonetheless it’s bound to be seen in competition very soon, once it gets some tires actually made during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II.

Most of the English cars for sale in Arizona gathered at the Bonhams, RM and Gooding tents and some patterns emerged. An obvious one is the strength of Series 1 E-Type Jaguar roadsters, a number of which sold for upwards of $100,000. Aston Martin DB4s went as high as $350,000, and though there were no DB5s apparent, the DB6s seem to have finally hit their stride with the ex-Bing Crosby ’66 Vantage Coupe selling for $298,500 at Bonhams and a finer red ’68 Vantage coupe with air conditioning netting a surprising $489,500 at Gooding.

RM realized $162,250 for a very nice 1955 Austin-Healey Factory 100M Le Mans. One of the best buys of the week went to a patient bidder who waited until the end of the day Friday, as RM was coming down in pajamas carrying empty milk bottles, and with the cat under one arm, when he picked up a decent 1966 Austin Healey 3000 BJ8 for only $38,500.

The very best Jaguar XK120 OTS and coupes can still bring more than $150,000, but lesser examples may go for half that and drop head coupes have never been popular in a country where summers are more reliable than in the UK. XK150s also seem soft and few were on offer this year.

The best Rolls-Royces can bring good money, especially with celebrity connections — like Gooding’s ex-Sammy Davis Jr. 1963 Silver Cloud III DHC at $429,000, or Marlene Dietrich’s 1930 P1 Phaeton at $524,000 over at Bonhams. But a tired 1966 MPW Silver Cloud drophead coupe at Gooding only made it to $187,000 in black with a tan top, and the new owner has some work to do.

Old PI and PII’s seem like quite a bargain, considering the size and quality car you get, but the designs are often very conservative “Aunt Emilys.” Painting them in bright colors with chrome wire wheels is as garish as seeing your grandmother in a tutu. Nevertheless, some very sound examples exist in the U.S. and a well-informed buyer can prosper, if he doesn’t mind undoing some work.

Oddities included Gooding’s 1967 V-8 Trident Clipper at $39,600, and a 1957 Triumph TR3, which combined a very faded original interior with an ancient repaint, for an astonishing $59,400. The 1963 TR3B at RM seemed like a much happier deal at $30,250. Meanwhile, a 1930 Austin Seven special configured like an Ulster sold for more than $30,000, and no harm done at that. The most egregious Jaguar was a Mk V sedan, reconfigured as a landaulet, with rather distressing results. Nevertheless, it brought nearly $60,000, but seems unlikely to be heading back to the UK, the scene of the crime.

 

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Steady As She Goes

While the collector car hobby witnessed its own reckoning in 2008, many aspects of the hobby are solid.

In hindsight, 2008 may eventually be looked upon as a page-turning year for the collector car hobby. But not simply because the news on the value front was no longer the “onward and upward” that the market has come to expect over the last six or seven years. While there was a fair amount of hand-wringing over values – especially in the latter half of the year – there were other subtle changes in the hobby that may indicate a maturing process.

Economic impact

The summer of 2006 saw the first drop in housing prices in 11 years. However, there was far worse to come, as the subprime mortgage market began to collapse, followed by the stock market in October 2008. Those who had prospered building mortgage, plumbing, electrical contracting and landscaping businesses during the housing boom were suddenly far more concerned with the survival of their companies than battling for the right to take home a pristine AAR ’Cuda. For those who saw a correction in the muscle-car market as inevitable, the downturn in the housing market provided a reason for one.

The first cars to really take it on the chin were the clones and the undocumented or non-original muscle cars, which almost immediately lost as much as one-third their value. According to the Hagerty’s Cars That Matter price guide, for most of 2007, the blue-chip muscle cars held their own, but by early 2008, when the full extent of the subprime mortgage meltdown became clear, even excellent examples of iconic muscle cars, such as the Shelby GT500 and Chevelle SS LS6, were down measurably in value. The long-talked-about correction had come to this sector of the market.

According to Colin Comer, author of Million Dollar Muscle Cars, the biggest losers were anything with a Hemi in it. “With up to 500-percent appreciation in four or five years, these cars had been whipped into a frenzy that just couldn’t be sustained,” he says. “They’re down to around 2003-2004 prices.”

But excluding Hemi Mopars, muscle cars with production numbers less than 1,000 weren’t really hurt. “Overall, prices are down to perhaps 2005 or mid-boom levels,” Comer says. So this was nothing like the crash seen by the Ferrari market in 1991.

Other sectors of the market – such as brass-era cars, European sports cars and prewar classics – have been less affected by the economic downturn. For most of 2008, a strong pound and euro ensured more of a soft landing for cars with worldwide appeal. Muscle cars, which lack an international following, simply weren’t as lucky.

David Gooding, founder and CEO of Gooding & Company, noted that more than 25 percent of the bidders at his Pebble Beach sale in August 2008 were European. In any event, the dollar’s strengthening against the euro at the end of 2008 makes it an open question as to how many Europeans will make the trip back to Pebble Beach in 2009.

Auction houses also noted a trend toward increasingly discriminate buyers. According to Ian Kelleher, RM Auctions president and COO, buyers in 2008 were playing it safe and paying much more attention to quality. True No. 1 and No. 2 examples of rare and significant cars generally had little trouble finding takers at strong prices, but more common cars, those with stories or those in lesser condition were tougher sales. “One thing hasn’t changed – the auction business is still about timing, venue, cars and clients,” Kelleher says.

In the latter half of 2008, many potential buyers also seemed to be sitting on their hands waiting to see how bad things were actually going to get with the economy and the outcome of the presidential election. The concern with the latter was that the new Obama administration would quickly raise the rate on capital gains taxes — a real concern for long-term owners of valuable cars.

Expanding areas

Unlike the U.S. economy, which officially entered a recession in 2008, there were some notable expansions in the collector car hobby: August Monterey sales were stronger last year than in 2007, with Gooding, RM, Bonhams and Russo and Steele all doing quite well.

Not surprisingly, Gooding – whose star has been steadily on the rise since its formation in 2004 – entered the Arizona market in January with a one-day sale held at an upscale Scottsdale shopping mall. The location was quite good – with the excellent access and ample parking one would expect of a retail center – and the Gooding team pulled off the first-year sale with characteristic aplomb.

Concurrent with the venerable Labor Day Kruse Auburn sale, the Worldwide Group held a new catalog sale just down the road. Rod Egan and John Kruse ably filled the demand for some higher-end cars and more attentive service.

In October, Barrett-Jackson brought its brand of flamboyant sales to what seemed like it should be the company’s ancestral home – Las Vegas. The results in attendance were impressive and, for the most part, the prices realized were market correct despite concerns over the economy.

Safe bets

One significant trend that continued to gather momentum in 2008 was the rise of the unrestored car. It is well known that altering or refinishing a well-preserved object is avoided in most other collecting pursuits. But until recently, in the old car world, it was common practice to restore the patina, originality and, some say, the charm out of well-preserved, but less-than-perfect, original cars.

Tom Cotter, co-chair of the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance and author of the books The Cobra in the Barn and The Hemi in the Barn, says, “It’s sad how many cars with original finishes and bolts tightened by workers at the factory have been lost in pursuit of shiny and fresh. Honestly, my favorite car is my unrestored 1938 Ford Woodie. It’s reliable and has a cohesive feel that restored cars just can’t match. It not just a disparate collection of new parts.”

Signs of an increasing appreciation for originality are all over the old-car hobby: Last year, the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance added a postwar preservation class, and the Bloomington Gold organization of Corvette Survivor fame held what was likely the first all-makes car show open only to unrestored cars.

The market has shown some of the same reverence. Last year’s sale by RM of a completely original 1911 Oldsmobile seven-passenger touring car for $1.65 million was followed up by the February 2008 Paris sale of a 1961 Aston Martin DB4 – utterly original and with every document since new. The Aston sold for more than $450,000, again almost twice the low estimate.

Aston Martin expert and dealer Steve Serio sums it up best: “A car is only original once, and this is proof positive that a really savvy collector will pay much more for that than he or she would for a restored car. Anyone can own a restored trailer queen, but the very few great original cars that still exist are being coveted by educated buyers.”

The future

This year is shaping up to be volatile. All bets are off if the already teetering economy is further gut-punched by massive defaults on consumer credit or commercial real estate loans. Following the stock market collapse of 1987, more money flowed into intangibles, such as collector cars. If things stabilize in the near term, and credit eases up, we could see the same phenomenon again as people turn from a lethargic stock market.

On a demographic level, one simply has to look at auction and concours crowds to be concerned about the obvious graying of the hobby. Will anyone care about cars of the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s when this generation passes from the scene? Comer (himself a Generation Xer) says if history is any indication, yes.

“Gen Xers and beyond will likely look to cars from the 1950s and ’60s the same way that baby boomers have started to collect brass-era and prewar classics that they have no recollection of from their youth,” he says. With prices of dorm room poster icons like the Lamborghini Countach and Porsche 930 Turbo on the rise, it seems apparent that even though generational shifts occur, car collecting is a permanent part of the American psyche.
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To see this article in its original format, view the pdf version of the Spring 2009 issue of Hagerty magazine.

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