Hot Off the Press: Bonhams’ $27m Amelia Island sale 2016

By Steve Wakefield

11th March 2016

The British house was once again first off the blocks in Florida, with a $27m sale headed by the well-publicised, Vanden Plas-bodied Bugatti T57S, which sold for $9.375m gross.

That’s a hammer value of $8.85m, some way short of pre-sale, $11m+ expectations. Nonetheless, we say: “Well sold.” It’s a four-seater, and its exaggerated, ‘blown out’ front wings mask the T57S’s very raison d'être: the surbaissé (the ‘S’ is for ‘lowered’) lines of the bonnet and vee’d radiator shell.

A factory-bodied 57S Atalante represented the pinnacle of rakish 1930s styling, with performance almost unparalleled on land; possibly the ultimate pre-War sports car. Only three years ago, Gooding achieved $8,745,000 for a Type 57S Atalante. As Simon said of the Vanden Plas car (pictured, above), “It’s hard to justify spending $10m on a Bugatti that has the side profile of a $100k Alvis.”

Busy saleroom. Layout gives a sense of déjà vu – same as in Scottsdale in January

Non-original (undesirable) colour and engine means 'Gullwing' only goes for $902k gross

It should be noted that just before the sale, Bonhams announced that in conjunction with Bugatti it had reunited the car with enough engine parts to return it to ‘matching numbers status’. These include the original upper crankcase, which is stamped with the engine number ‘29S’ and the chassis number 57541.

Bidding started at $6m with the battle playing out between one phone bidder and two in the room. At $8.5m, auctioneer Rupert Banner asked the phone bidder, then holding the highest bid, “Should I sell?” The answer, if known, is probably unprintable.

Teasing bids out of a saleroom is the auctioneer’s art, although sometimes this backfires. Coaxing another few thousand dollars for the 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 resulted in the then highest bidder, perhaps the most significant private buyer of Ferraris in recent years, storming out of the tent, firm in the belief that it was ‘his car’. The 4-cam, in old-school ‘drivers’ condition, sold to someone else for $2.5m net, some $200k under its lower estimate, or $2.75m all-in.

For a few dollars more: 275 GTB/4 on its way to $2.5m

Working on provisional, immediately post-sale figures we are showing a sold-by-number percentage of 64%. In line with auctions of the last 12 months, a high percentage of cars (78%) failed to meet the average of their estimates. The gross will be double Bonhams' 2015 figure, thanks mainly to the Bugatti, although other big-sellers included another two ‘On Request’ cars, the 1937 Mercedes-Benz 540K Cabriolet A ($2.7m hammer) and the $1.001m net, 1933 Maserati 8C 3000 Biposto.

To close out the European pre-War success story, the 1935 Riley MPH Two Seater Sports, ex-Bob Lutz and a past Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance award winner, smashed through its upper estimate of $750,000 to go for $800,000, that’s $880,000 gross.

And try driving this one to the Oscars: the world’s first hybrid motor car, the ‘Brass Era’ 1896 Armstrong Phaeton Gasoline Electric, was hammered away for $420,000, way over its $175,000 – $275,000 estimate.

Bonhams at Amelia Island 10 March 2016 – Provisional (2015)

Total gross cars: $26,877,420 ($13,800,600)
Number of cars not sold: 35 (17)
Number of cars withdrawn: 1 (2)
Total number of cars: 98 (81)
Number sold: 63 (64)
Percentage cars sold by number: 64% (79%)
Percentage by value average low/high estimate: 48% (66%)
Number of cars sold below low estimate: 39 (38)
Percentage of cars sold below low estimate: 62% (59%)
Number of cars sold not met avge of estimates: 49 (45)
Percentage of cars sold not met avge of estimates: 78% (70%)
Number of cars sold above top estimate: 6 (14)
Percentage of cars sold met/exceeded top estimate: 10% (22%)
Average age of cars offered: 1955 (1954)

All photos by K500