Mecum Auctions, Monterey, August 15-17, 2019
Mecum’s “Daytime Auction” at Monterey was down 34.7% from last year, similar to the overall experience at Monterey this year. In Mecum’s case that was less unusual. As the table below shows, being up and down by a third has been a common experience at this venue and while this is the lowest total for […]
RM Sotheby’s, Monterey, August 15-17, 2019
RM Sotheby’s added a Thursday session for 34 Aston Martins, bringing their total consignment to 184 lots from last year’s 150. 64.7% of the Astons sold, not bolstering RM’s eventual 72.8% sell-through. But it was the Saturday appearance of the vaunted Porsche Type 64 (actually a modified Kraft durch Freude Wagen (the VW predecessor) Porsche […]
Gooding & Co., Pebble Beach, August 16-17, 2019
Like the other Monterey auctions Gooding & Co. ran up against a wall of indifference in 2019. The first challenge was consignors’ indifference. Not that there weren’t some great cars on offer at The Pebble Beach Auction, there were and as always displayed to advantage in Gooding’s spacious marquees. The issue was that none of […]
Bonhams, Quail Lodge, August 15-16, 2019
More is not Better Bonhams crammed 219 cars into its Quail Lodge location in 2019, 62% more lots in exactly the same space at a sale where when Bonhams previously has expanded to two days it has been to feature a high-profile collection. They were cheek by jowl tight. The Maserati Bora lost its right […]
The 2019 Monterey Auctions
By now it’s pretty well-known that the collector car auctions in Monterey were off by nearly a third from last year. It’s taken some time to get consistent results from the auction companies, then to put them into a coherent presentation that is comparable with prior years. The week itself was a marathon culminating in […]
Barrett-Jackson Northeast, Mohegan Sun Casino & Resort, June 27-29, 2019
With 548 vehicles crossing the block at Barrett-Jackson’s fourth annual auction at the Mohegan Sun Casino & Resort in Uncasville, Connecticut it is reasonable to infer there’s lots of fodder for collector car auction reports. That was hardly the case in 2019 (or, for that matter, in prior years.) First, let’s consider what a “collector […]
Bonhams, Festival of Speed, Goodwood, July 5, 2019 (Updated July 19)
Since no one in his or her right mind who loves cars needs an excuse to attend the Goodwood Festival of Speed the FoS is more like an excuse to attend Bonhams auction. This is never a big auction, more like a place for the right crowd to gather away from the sensory overload of […]
Bonhams, Greenwich Concours, June 2, 2019
Weather, sometimes the bane of the Greenwich Concours d’Elegance, cooperated in magnificent fashion this year with three days of glorious sunshine complemented by cooling breezes off Greenwich Harbor. It gave the Concours the perfect opportunity to show off its unusual two-day event, taking full advantage of the limited space in Roger Sherman Baldwin Park by […]
Mecum Auctions, Spring Classic State Fairgrounds, Indianapolis, May 15-19, 2019 Part II: Ford Thunderbird through Volkswagen
Let the introduction to Part I suffice, these are the rest of the cars, including the ’57 Ford F-birds. But a comment is in order. Mecum loaded the Spring Classic with ’57 T-birds, 24 of them in all, not to mention ’55 and ’56 T-birds. The sell-through was disappointing, just 14 of the 24 57’s, […]
Mecum Auctions, Spring Classic State Fairgrounds, Indianapolis, May 15-19, 2019 Part I: AM General through Ford Mustang
There were five of us on the ground at Mecum’s Spring Classic with the result that 238 of the 1,123 vehicles offered were described in detail. Put in literal terms, that’s about 37,571 words of content, about the same as a 150 page trade paperback novel. Now, a quarter to a third of it is […]