RM at Villa Erba 2019: A return to form?

Dipping a toe once again in the shimmering waters of Lake Como, for 2019 RM has put together a less niche catalogue than last time, when only six out of ten cars found new owners.
 
The lack of a ‘big’ Ferrari in 2017 has been corrected. This year’s 500 Mondial Spider was last sold by RM for $3.85m in August 2017 and has since then been in the expensive hands of Ferrari Classiche, for work that's included Red Book Certification. Whether that has added $1.5m in 18 months, we’re eager to find out. So will RM be, as the car is annotated ‘ownership interest’ in the catalogue.
 
What you need to know:
 
* 54-car catalogue plus automobilia (2017, 45 cars)
* 2017 gross €24.5m at 60% sold by number
* Average year of cars offered, 1968 (2017, 1975)
* €4.25m to €4.75m 1954 Ferrari 500 Mondial Pinin Farina Spider headlines the sale
* One to watch? Lot 40, a 1957 Porsche 550A Spyder (pictured, top). One of THE great ‘event’ cars, though always highly subject to provenance and originality, an improved ‘A’ model, priced mid-market at €3.4m to €3.8m
 
With the 500 Mondial, the Porsche 550A and classic 1950s racing GTs such as the Fiat 8V Zagato (below) and Maserati A6G/2000 Berlinetta Zagato, RM’s offering at Villa Erba has a traditional feel to it, a ‘Monterey sale’ by the shores of Lake Como, although as usual a few entries have been on the dealer circuit under and above the radar for a while.

Modern hypercars are in the minority (McLaren P1 and Ferrari F12TdF) and there’s just one limited-edition recent Porsche 911, while 2017’s experiment with big-hitting pre-War cars has not been repeated. The petite, historically significant 1931 Aston Martin International ‘LM5’ deserves an enthusiastic owner.
 
There’s one 300 SL Roadster, a box-ticking (alloy block, disc brakes), Fire Engine Red (untick one box) car sold by RM in February 2015 for €1.23m. It’s another where RM declares an interest, and this time it’s estimated at €1.4m to €1.6m. In the US, interesting 300 SLs have bounced back from a softening after the glory days of 2014. European market reaction to this car will be interesting.
 
The Maserati Ghibli Spyder that follows the red 300 SL is the runt of the litter: a yellow, US-spec automatic 4.7 converted to manual. It’s on the money at the lower end of its €500k to €600k estimate.
 
Given the location, organisers feel they are honour-bound to include some local talent and, appropriately in its centenary year, Zagato features widely. 1950s GTs apart, most are from the great house’s less celebrated period of design and include a new Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato Shooting Brake (€650k to €850k, Bonhams has another for similar money in the UK this weekend) and an only-for-the-brave, Zagato-rebodied 1967 Ferrari 330 GTC at €425k to €475k.
 
So, a better all-round selection than last time though, as always at auction, many entries require meticulous examination of what is – and more often what is not – stated in their descriptions. Pre-Monterey, there’s only Bonhams’ Goodwood Festival marathon to come. In a mixed year so far of Brass Car craziness in the US, Scottsdale slipping back to its blue-collar roots, only RM really scoring at Rétromobile and Youngtimers plateauing in Essen, events in Italy next week will be fascinating. We’ll see you there.

Photos by RM Sotheby's