Talk of the Town: The GTO and the rest of RM’s $97m Saturday sale

In a packed Portola Plaza this evening, RM moved on 64 cars at a sell-through rate of 85%. Oh, and you might have heard by now that one happy new owner will be clearing space in his garage for a $48.4m Ferrari 250 GTO.

Such was the excitement, proceedings were called to a halt for a full five minutes after the hammer fell on the Ferrari. The next lot – a Plain Jane Mercedes 190 SL – was then snapped up by an over-excited bidder for a walloping $257,600 all-in, some $50k over its upper estimate.

At a glance from provisional figures:
 
* Gross over two days: $158,109,330 (2017, $132,790,950)
* Percentage sold by number on the day: 83% (2017 overall, 89%)
* Top-selling car: You really want to know?
* Well sold? Spin a coin between the 190 SL and the $179,200 VW Microbus
* Well bought? Not much, everything went pretty well according to plan
* One to take away? Go on, then, the 1989 RUF CTR 'Yellow Bird'

Over to Simon, on how the GTO was sold, from his vantage point only feet from the rostrum:

“With no fewer than five fellow GTO owners watching from the front row, the auctioneer opened bidding on the star car of the weekend at a punchy $35 million. It was no secret that the car had been guaranteed by the auction house, although the amount remains closely guarded.

“A businesslike bidding exchange among RM staff on the telephones followed for the next few minutes, with the hammer coming down at $44 million to applause from a packed saleroom. Job done, as expected.”

Elsewhere in the catalogue, much more went as expected and, like arch-rival Gooding, RM did better today on sell-through: 85% vs. 79% last night, when both houses held concurrent events.

The 1957 Porsche 550A Spyder (above) was next up value-wise, achieving $4.9m with premium. Other cars in the four-million-dollar club were the Maserati A6G Zagato Berlinetta and the Mercedes AMG CLK GTR.

Casualties included the alloy Ferrari 250 GT SWB that, as with the Porsche 908 on Friday, seemed to generate few meaningful bids.

RM Sotheby’s in Monterey, 24-25 August 2018 (2017)

Gross: $158,109,330 ($132,790,950)
Number of cars not sold: 25 (13)
Number of cars withdrawn: 0 (2)
Total number of cars: 150 (115)
Number sold: 125 (102)
Percentage cars sold by number: 83% (89%)
Percentage by value average low/high estimate: 67% (92%)
Percentage of cars met or sold below low estimate: 66% (53%)
Percentage of cars sold below avge of estimates: 83% (76%)
Percentage of cars sold met/exceeded top estimate: 7% (17%)
Average price of cars sold: $1,264,875 ($1,301,872)
Average year of cars offered: 1967 (1966)
Percentage of cars offered at No Reserve:  45% (42%)

Photos by K500