top of page

Auction Results & The Most Expensive Car In The World

duncanhsutton

The 1955 Mercedes Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe is the world’s most expensive car. Photo courtesy of RM Sotheby’s.

I was planning to give a quick update on how the sales went on my ‘auction picks’ from my last report but something happened last week that seemed to blitz all other news into being insignificant. It was the news from RM Sotheby’s that they had, in conjunction with Mercedes Benz, sold one of the two Uhlenhaut Coupes for the record breaking price of £116million. That’s over £77 million more than the former record holder, a 1962 Ferrari GTO sold in 2018 by RM Sotheby’s. Evidently the opening bid was higher than the figure the GTO sold for.


I first got wind of it from Simon Kidston’s Instagram account for it was he who achieved the winning bid on behalf of his client. Those invited to the auction, only 10 bidders hand selected by Mercedes Benz, were known international collectors of cars and art who ’share the corporate values of Mercedes Benz’. They were flown to Stuttgart where the auction took place in a private jet. Whoever the buyer was you just wonder what else is in his garage. By achieving such a price the car now enters the top ten list of the most valuable items sold at auction. After the result was made public Simon Kidston stated, ’If you had asked classic car experts and top collectors over the past half a century to name the most desirable car in the world, there’s a good chance that they would have come up with the same model: the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR. 

Simon Kidston posted this picture of himself on Instagram after buying the Mercedes Benz on behalf of a client

‘It’s a combination of exotic engineering, all-conquering racing history, the power of the three-pointed star on its nose and the fact that one had never, ever been sold. Many collectors had tried, all had failed.

‘That was what the entire motoring world thought, but times change, and if you don’t ask, you’ll never know. A long-standing relationship with the Mercedes-Benz Museum helped, but even after 18 months of patient lobbying, we didn’t know if or how they would consider letting the 300 SLR out of captivity until just before it happened.

‘For everyone involved, and especially the new owner whom we represented, this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to buy the Mona Lisa of cars.’

So what does this mean for the historic car market? Personally, I feel it’s such an exceptional car, the influence will be minimal. I think owners of highly desirable historic cars will be getting excited about potential price increases but for the bulk of the market nothing will change. I do think it shows that the top end of the market is getting closer to the fine art market in both prices and investment potential and rather worryingly, whilst the Government is being asked to step in and help families pay for food and heating, it also illustrates the increasing gap between the uber wealthy and the rest.

So what about those auction picks I highlighted a few weeks ago? On the whole the auctioneers were accurate with their estimates. The Jaguar C Type copy that Historics auctioned on the 21st May hit dead centre between their upper and lower estimates and went for £164,640.


Historic achieved mid estimate for the Jaguar C Type replica

H and H achieved a little more than their top estimate for the replica Jaguar D Type at their online auction with a final bid of £74,250 including premium.


H and H did well to achieve just over their top estimate of the Jag D Type replica.

The Bonhams Monaco auction achieved some big numbers including my two picks, the Bugatti 35B went for £2 million and the AC Ace Bristol with race history went for way above the top estimate and achieved a price of £460,000.

A winning bid of £2 million bought the Bugatti 35B at Bonhams’ Monaco sale. photo credit Bonhams

A fantastic AC Ace went well beyond its top estimate at Bonhams’ Monaco sale. Photo credit Bonhams

So cars are selling for good money. The highest prices though are for cars with exceptional, undisputed history. Yes, there will always be a market for the quick cars that’ll get you to the sharp end of the grid, but history is something you can’t buy off the shelf. As these original cars with impeccable history climb ever higher in value, maybe the taint of owning an accurate ‘tool room’ replica diminishes. One could also argue that two other factors play a role in keeping the market strong. Firstly, in an ever changing unpredictable world where we seem to stumble from one crisis to another people may feel safer investing in tangible goods rather than have it sitting in a bank. The second is the pandemic. It’s changed many people’s mindsets. Once, one may have thought, ‘When I retire I’ll buy myself a great car and go historic racing’ but now, post Covid, people feel that if they are fit and they can buy the car now they’ll do it and live for the moment rather than tomorrow.

I’m very tempted to stick my fingers in my ears and ignore it but there are increasing numbers of business leaders talking of the impending recession. How will this effect the market? It may effect the lower end but the historic car world is populated by wealthy individuals, wealthy enough to ride out the storm and keep the market buoyant.

Instead of going through the auction catalogues and picking out the lots that grab my eye I’ve been going through websites, dealer ads and classifieds. I’ve compiled a list of those cars that (ignoring budget!) I’d love to have in my garage. I’ve titled it ‘My Market Picks’ and you’ll find it in the menu above. Do have a browse whilst you’re enjoying your tea.

1 view0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comentários


  • Facebook
  • Youtube
  • Instagram

© 2035 Powered and secured by Wix

bottom of page