Five things to take away from the 2020 Paris Rétromobile Week sales

The exhibition stands have been cleared, the cars loaded on transporters. Rétromobile Week is over for another year. Here’s our take on this year’s auctions, where 225 cars found new owners, generating €56.7m in total sales.
 
1.    Cars were selling. At a lower sell-through of 68% compared with the market peak in 2015 (82%), certainly, but the slide in results that started in Monterey last year has been arrested.
 
2.    The sub-€1m pre-War market. Finally, sellers realised that their less-fashionable models would have to be sold for the price of the day, not yesterday.
 
3.    The appeal of older entries at the top end. Multi-million-euro pre-War cars are like fish out of water now, unless a) offered at the better sales in the US, or b) sporting, rare and of significance with a great badge. Artcurial’s leviathan 1929 Mercedes-Benz 710 SS fell into the former camp and did not sell, while Bonhams’ 1931 Bugatti Type 55 Supersport by Figoni ticked the box marked ‘buy now or you’ll miss it’, despite a huge 1990s accident, and a Swiss collector duly raised his hand.
 
4.    Too many cars. In fact, there were fewer (332 vs 372 last year) offered, but it did not feel like it. Bonhams’ all-day marathon at the cavernous Grand Palais, RM’s late-nighter played to only a few diehards in its final moments, Artcurial’s seven and a half hours of singing, laughing and speaking over one another – all were tests of endurance. The main Rétromobile show is a world-class occasion; many preferred to savour it.
 
5.    Rétromobile itself. See #4. Outside Pebble Beach, there are few other events generally open to the public that attract the knowledgeable, high-level collectors that regularly come from all corners of the globe to Paris in February. And the addition of The Peninsula Classics ‘Best of the Best’ Award, presented on Thursday night, ensures they have a glitzy get-together to cap off the trip. It’s another reason why the Arizona sales have lost their appeal: climate apart, who’d prefer a week in the desert to a few days with their other halves in one of the most glamorous cities in the world?

You can download a list of results for all three days, sorted by make and model, here.

Combined figures, RM Sotheby’s/Bonhams/Artcurial 2020 (2019)

Gross: €56,660,613 (€81,629,041)
Number of cars not sold: 105 (107)
Number of cars withdrawn: 4 (2)
Total number of cars: 330 (372)
Number sold: 225 (265)
Percentage cars sold by number: 68% (71%)
Percentage by value average low/high estimate: 42% (47%)
Percentage of cars met or sold below low estimate: 60% (60%)
Percentage of cars sold below avge of estimates:  83% (78%)
Percentage of cars sold met/exceeded top estimate: 11% (14%)
Average price of cars sold: €171,699 (€219,433)
Average year of cars offered: 1964 (1963)
Percentage of cars offered at No Reserve: 36% (33%)

Top 10 cars in Paris 2020 by value

1. Bonhams 1931 Bugatti Type 55 Two-Seat Supersport by Figoni €4,600,000
2. Artcurial 1965 Ferrari 275 GTB €2,444,000
3. RM 1958 BMW 507 Roadster Series II €1,996,250
4. RM 1964 Porsche 904 GTS €1,917,500
5. Artcurial 1966 Porsche 906 €1,688,000
6. Bonhams 1931 Invicta 4½-Litre S-Type Low Chassis Sports 'Scout' €1,610,000
7. Bonhams 1935 Mercedes-Benz 500K Cabriolet A €1,610,000
8. RM 2012 Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport €1,523,750
9. Artcurial 1983 Ferrari 126 C3-068 F1 €1,402,400
10. Artcurial 1991 Ferrari F40 €1,083,200

RM Sotheby’s at Place Vauban, 5 February 2020 (2019)

Gross: €16,544,588 (€32,035,838)
Number of cars not sold: 23 (21)
Number of cars withdrawn: 1 (1)
Total number of cars: 78 (83)
Number sold: 55 (62)
Percentage cars sold by number: 71% (75%)
Percentage by value average low/high estimate: 37% (58%)
Percentage of cars met or sold below low estimate: 56% (63%)
Percentage of cars sold below avge of estimates:  73% (76%)
Percentage of cars sold met/exceeded top estimate: 18% (21%)
Average price of cars sold: €300,811 (€516,707)
Average year of cars offered: 1973 (1978)
Percentage of cars offered at No Reserve: 32% (16%)

Bonhams at the Grand Palais, 6 February 2020 (2019)

Gross: €19,490,799 (€11,197,435)
Number of cars not sold: 36 (46)
Number of cars withdrawn: 1 (1)
Total number of cars: 101 (140)
Number sold: 65 (94)
Percentage cars sold by number: 64% (67%)
Percentage by value average low/high estimate: 48% (31%)
Percentage of cars met or sold below low estimate: 75% (73%)
Percentage of cars sold below avge of estimates:  91% (83%)
Percentage of cars sold met/exceeded top estimate: 2% (11%)
Average price of cars sold: € 299,858 (€119,122)
Average year of cars offered: 1962 (1953)
Percentage of cars offered at No Reserve: 24% (31%)

Artcurial at the Porte de Versailles, 7 February 2020 (2019)

Gross: €20,625,226 (€38,326,768)
Number of cars not sold: 43 (48)
Number of cars withdrawn: 2 (0)
Total number of cars: 151 (147)
Number sold: 108 (99)
Percentage cars sold by number: 72% (67%)
Percentage by value average low/high estimate: 43% (47%)
Percentage of cars met or sold below low estimate: 50% (51%)
Percentage of cars sold below avge of estimates:  81% (82%)
Percentage of cars sold met/exceeded top estimate: 9% (12%)
Average price of cars sold: €190,974 (€387,139)
Average year of cars offered: 1960 (1963)
Percentage of cars offered at No Reserve:  47% (45%)

Photo by Alamy