Scottsdale 2020: Day two for RM Sotheby’s at the Arizona Biltmore

RM wrapped up its 2020 Scottsdale sale this evening. At least $15.9m changed hands, bringing the potential gross for the two-day event to $29m+.

The failure of the headlining 250 GT PF Cabriolet  Series 1 – bid both in the room and over the phone to the low $5ms – took a little gloss off RM’s final day at the Biltmore. That said, as we observed at Gooding earlier, sell-through was an excellent 91% and the predominantly saleroom bids came thick and fast.

At a glance from provisional figures (Friday only):

* Gross: $15,960,404
* Percentage sold by number: 91%
* Top-selling car: 1967 Ferrari 330 GTS $1,710,000, $1,550,000 net (est. $1.8m to $2.2m)
* Well sold? The Vector W8 that went for $200k over its upper estimate, selling for $720k all-in
* Well bought? The non-matching engine did for it, but $302k gross for the 1967 Maserati Mistral Spyder 4.0 with hardtop was reasonable
* One to take away? $62,160 for the smart 1956 Austin-Healey 100-4 BN2 made it a good buy

A few more European dealers had made it to the Biltmore today. They joined a good number of car-collecting VIPs present at the event tonight. Turn-out was good, if not packed. It’s a big room.

Much pre-sale interest focused on the pre-War Mercedes 540K Coupé. Its with-premium price of $995k might have disappointed some but, given restoration costs, that figure was probably correct. Likewise, the ‘hot rod’ special Miura SV (pictured, above) has something about it in its own right, but was always going to be a restoration-back-to-standard project. It sold below estimate at $1,391,000 gross, which might give its new owner a little more budget for all that work in Italy – but will never compensate for a non-matching engine.

Top honours went to the Ferrari 330 GTS, selling some $250k under lower estimate but a fair reflection on 1960s Ferrari prices in 2020. And the question “How much is my 2017 Ford GT worth?” was answered when the No Reserve bright blue car went $85k over its lower estimate for $923,500 gross. Less successful were the showroom-fresh limited-edition Ferraris: neither the 2015 458 Speciale Aperta nor the 2018 GTC4Lusso 70th Anniversary attracted any meaningful bids, mirroring the picture at Gooding only a few hours before.

Two people fought to the last over the striking Vector W8, the hammer dropping at such a premium ($200k) over upper estimate it almost felt like 2013 again.

Full results to come from K500, with a comprehensive listing of cars sold at Scottsdale this year ranked by marque and model.

RM Sotheby’s at the Arizona Biltmore, 16-17 January 2020 – provisional (2019)

Gross: $29,090,644 ($37,137,570)
Number of cars not sold: 16 (23)
Number of cars withdrawn: 2 (5)
Total number of cars: 142 (155)
Number sold: 126 (132)
Percentage cars sold by number: 89% (85%)
Percentage by value average low/high estimate: 54% (43%)
Percentage of cars met or sold below low estimate: 76% (66%)
Percentage of cars sold below avge of estimates: 90% (81%)
Percentage of cars sold met/exceeded top estimate: 7% (11%)
Average value of cars sold: $230,878 ($281,345)
Average year of cars offered: 1968 (1967)
Percentage of cars offered at No Reserve:  73% (60%)

Photos by K500