Amelia Island 2020: Gooding & Co

Playing to a busy saleroom, British auctioneer Charlie Ross conducted the Californians’ annual Florida sale in his usual entertaining manner.

With nearly three-quarters of the catalogue offered at No Reserve, the excellent sell-through-by-number of 92% on the day was always on the cards. However, it took all the wily skill of the experienced British auctioneer to tease derisory initial bids on No Reserve lots up to half-decent hammer prices – and 75% still failed to meet lower estimate.

Cars that sold well below guides included the 2007 Ruf RT12 ($263.2k gross vs. $325k to $400k), the 1960 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider Veloce ($84k gross vs. $120k to $140k) and the 2018 McLaren MSO X (no, we don’t either, but it went for $173.6k gross vs. $275k to $325k).

Perhaps the biggest surprise was the 2019 McLaren Senna. Not only did it sell – unusual in recent times – but the winning bid was some $100k less than its already reasonable estimate of $1m to $1.2m. Perhaps the gross figure of $978,500 really is the price of these cars today.

At a glance from on-the-day figures:

* Gross: $20,535,080 (2019, $15,752,460)
* Percentage sold by number: 92% (2019, 87%)
* Top-selling car: 1914 Rolls-Royce 40/50 HP Silver Ghost Torpédo Phaeton $2,205,000 gross, $2,000,000 net, (est. $2.7m to $3.5m)
* Well sold? No question, the recent Ferrari 458 Speciale Aperta that soared over its upper estimate of $500k to be hammered sold at $590k. That’s $654k with premium
* Well bought? Albeit to less-fancied North American spec, the 1972 Maserati Ghibli 4.9 SS Spider had it all: 5-speed manual, 4.9 SS engine and great original colours of Oro Longchamps with Marrone interior. Estimated optimistically at $900k to $1.1m, it sold for $753k gross, leaving a useful sum in the pot for a concours-standard Italian restoration
* One to take away? The Princess Ashraf Pahlavi/Hamilton (propellers) family early 300 SL Roadster (pictured, above) that went for $995k all-in

As we observed at Bonhams yesterday, the audience was almost exclusively North American.

Unless something’s pulled out of the bag overnight, it looks like the catalogue-cover 1958 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spider will go home again, despite four bidders on it up to $8m. Gooding sold a similar car at Pebble last year for $9m net, so something near $8.5m would probably buy this car today, making it $8.8m all-in.

The Miura (pictured, top) was an excellent example that deserved to sell well, only just missing its lower estimate and finishing up with a bidder in the room at a fair $1,435,000 gross.

Iconic 1950s Ferrari apart, it was a fine performance by the Californians proving once again that – priced right – cars are selling.

Gooding & Co at Amelia Island, 6 March 2020 – provisional (2019)

Gross: $20,535,080 ($21,822,980)
Number of cars not sold: 7 (12)
Number of cars withdrawn: 2 (2)
Total number of cars: 89 (89)
Number sold: 82 (77)
Percentage of cars sold by number: 92% (87%)
Percentage by value average low/high estimate: 48% (57%)
Percentage of cars met or sold below low estimate: 72% (74%)
Percentage of cars sold below avge of estimates: 89% (86%)
Percentage of cars sold met/exceeded top estimate: 4% (8%)
Average price of cars sold: $250,428 ($283,415)
Average year of cars offered: 1984 (1979)
Number of cars offered at No Reserve: 63 (59)
Percentage of cars offered at No Reserve:  71% (66%)
Percentage of cars Porsches:  25% (35%)

Photos by K500