Gooding sets the standard with $26m Scottsdale opener

A quality catalogue, ferocious adjustment of reserves and another bravura performance by auctioneer Charlie Ross helped Gooding to a $26m+ gross for day one of its two-day Arizona event.

Six cars broke $1m and the results were topped by the Ferrari 250 GT Tour de France that achieved $5.9m gross. Prices – as we’ve seen already – were soft: 93% of cars failed to meet mid-estimate.

When RM totalled a provisional $16.2m later in the day, of the Big Three international houses, Gooding took the crown for largest gross per sale.

The British auctioneer once again played to the saleroom, maintaining an easy-going atmosphere throughout the four-hour event, artfully extracting that last $25k or $50k to get cars across the line. He remains the class of the field.

At a glance from provisional figures:

* Gross: $26,068,070
* Percentage sold by number: 86%
* Top-selling car: 1958 Ferrari 250 GT Tour de France, $5,890,000 gross, $5,350,000 net (est. $5.75m to $6.5m)
* Well sold? In truth, moving any of the big-ticket lots on was an achievement
* Well bought? The $2.5m 1985 Ferrari 288 GTO
* One to take away? The 1961 Rolls-Royce Phantom V Coupé ($207.2k) was totally mad, but being sensible, the 1959 Porsche 356A Coupé, a smart little car estimated at $160k to $180k that sold for $131.6k incl. premium

The big-block Shelby Cobra aside, every one of the $1m+ cars found a new owner, although only one – the $1.435m with premium, ex-Von Karajan 300 SL Gullwing – beat mid-estimate.

Just sneaking in at $1,006,000 was the US trade-bought 1957 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Roadster, an attractive, well-restored car in Elfenbein (DB 608 Ivory) with green leather. Using the K500 chassis search tool, we can see that chassis 198.042.7500229 was sold for $1.43m in August 2013, another example of the direction of prices over the last five years.

Both the headlining Ferrari TdF and the 1953 Ferrari 250 MM Spider ($5.395m) went at 2019 values. Early bidding on the hot-rodded 1955 Alfa Romeo 1900C SS Coupé looked as if it might go for a song. However, the power of No Reserve and auctioneer Ross’s persistence dragged it to respectability: $210,000 gross against its $275k to $350k estimate.

He made it look simple – but don’t forget the catchphrase of a well-known former auctioneer: “If it were easy, everyone would do it.”

Gooding & Co at Scottsdale, 18 January 2019 – strictly provisional

Gross: $26,068,070
Number of cars not sold: 9
Number of cars withdrawn: 0
Total number of cars: 65
Number sold: 56
Percentage cars sold by number: 86%    
Percentage of cars met or sold below low estimate: 73%
Percentage of cars sold below avge of estimates: 93%
Percentage of cars sold met/exceeded top estimate: 2%
 

Photos by K500