London Calling: RM pulls in £6.87m at Battersea Park

The Canadian titan’s 2016 London auction was a game-changer: £4.7m for the eight-car private Porsche collection alone, including a £1.85m 1995 Porsche GT2. Market demographics had changed forever – or so everyone thought, until many of the traditional classics posted some big figures during Monterey Week only last month. Just a few hours ago, with a reduced (71-car) offering, affairs in London were far more subdued.

In truth, it was an evening best forgotten. The heights achieved in Monterey barely three weeks ago, let alone at the same venue last year, seem but distant memories.

At a glance (from provisional figures):

* £6,873,750 gross (2016: £21,659,350)
* Percentage sold by number 54% (2016: 76%)
* Top-selling car the 2004 Ferrari Enzo at £1,805,000 gross (£1.6m net vs £1.6m to £1.8m estimate)
* Buy of the night? The 1964 Bentley S3 Continental Drophead Coupé by Mulliner Park Ward for just £57,500 all-in
* Non-seller of the night? Another Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7 Lightweight bites the dust

RM’s London auction saw the debut of the company’s new buyer’s premium structure. Lots hammered under £200,000 are now subject to a 15% premium, with any balance over that figure attracting 12.5%. Hitherto, it was a flat rate of 12% and in the US it’s levied at just 10% by all three international houses.

It’s too early to see if this affected the result, but we’ll be watching events unfold at Maranello this weekend where the rate is a special 15% up to €500k and 12% over that figure.

Familiar Sotheby’s auctioneer Maarten ten Holder was at the rostrum paired with car man Alain Squindo. In-the-room and telephone bidding was thin on the ground, so when a confirmed bid came through ten Holder latched onto it like a late-riser hitting the hotel breakfast buffet at 9:55am.

Cars such as the 2012 Lexus LFA and 1938 Delahaye were bought with only one or two visible bids. It’s the auctioneer’s job to maintain a buzz in the saleroom up to the reserve price, but in many cases (the DB5, for example) had there been real interest in the room or on the phones the car should have sold – this is the reason we rarely quote high bids.

The Porsche GT2 magic failed to repeat itself 12 months on. The black car sold for a with-premium, low-estimate £775,625 ($1,011,826 on the day). Comparisons with last year’s £1.85m GT2 are unfair: this one had had an off at the Nürburgring in 1999, though had been repaired at Stuttgart. The other rare Porsches failed to take off, although the Conda Green 1971 Porsche 911E sold well for a hammer price of £30k over its upper estimate. The car had formerly been the property of multiple Porsche GT champion and master of the mighty 935, John Fitzpatrick.

It was Fitzpatrick who took the 911E across the block – a fact curiously omitted by Squindo and ten Holder – and it and the mad, £230k Defender SVX ‘Spectre’ Bond car were the stars of a lacklustre evening.

Why did they do well? Quality, ‘can’t buy it tomorrow’ quality that much of the catalogue lacked. That, and a poorly attended saleroom were the reverse of the Monterey Week medal. The Maranello and Goodwood Revival sales will be interesting – expect to receive all the news first from K500.

RM Sotheby’s in London, 6 September 2017 – Provisional Results (2016)

Total gross cars: £6,873,750 (£21,659,350)
Number of cars not sold: 33 (21)
Total number of cars: 71 (87)
Number sold: 38 (66)
Percentage cars sold by number: 54% (76%)
Percentage by value average low/high estimate: 30% (77%)
Percentage of cars sold below low estimate: 58% (55%)
Percentage of cars sold not met avge of estimates: 87% (68%)
Percentage of cars sold met/exceeded top estimate: 13% (24%)
Average value of cars sold: £180,888 (£328,172)
Average year of cars offered: 1976 (1973)
Percentage of cars offered at No Reserve: 32% (10%)

Photos by K500