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Highlights from the week’s sales include Burt Reynold’s “Bandit” Trans Am and weird one-offs like a Ferrari limo
A 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Alloy Gullwing sold by RM Sotheby’s in January 2022 Photo by Karissa Hosek /RM Sotheby’s
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The whirlwind of collector-car auctions that sweep through Scottsdale, Arizona late January every year have finally been blown out of town, leaving in their wake some of the largest sales totals firms like Barrett-Jackson, Bonhams, and Ontario, Canada-based RM Sotheby’s have seen in years. Across all five (well, six, if you include digital events) participating auction houses, the money trading hands adds up to more than US$275 million.
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The top sale across all events at Arizona Auction Week was of a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL “Gullwing,” which set an auction record for the model when RM Sotheby’s hammered it for US$6,825 million. While these classic sports cars normally trade hands for US$1.5 million, what set this one apart was its being a light metal version, or “Light Metal Version,” with a body crafted from aluminum alloy. Benz made just 29 of the race-spec Alloy 300SLs.
Runner-up was a charity auction sale, of the first 2023 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 , which managed a US$3.6-million result under the Barrett-Jackson tent. The top five list was rounded out by two pre-war Duesenberg Model Js, one which went for US$3.415 million via RM Sotheby’s, the other for US$2.26 million via Worldwide Auctioneers; and sandwiched between them, a Benz 300SL Roadster that RM sold for US$2,315,000.
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Movie cars made moves in Scottsdale, too, especially at Barrett-Jackson, which celebrated its 50th anniversary event with its successful sales result ever at a total US$203 million. Honing in on Hollywood-affiliated lots, BJ saw a 1977 Pontiac Trans Am once personally owned by Burt Reynolds cross the block for US$495,000. While this car didn’t star in Smokey & the Bandit itself, it was in fact the only ’77 Trans Am that Reynolds ever owned, a promotional movie tie-in car gifted to the actor. A similar spec Pontiac without the Burt connection would have net about US$71,000.
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First 2023 Corvette Z06 sets charity auction record with US.6-million sale
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‘Wayne’s World’ AMC Pacer auctions for ,000 at Barrett-Jackson
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That amount, by coincidence, is what the AMC Pacer that starred in Wayne’s World sold for at the Barrett-Jackson event, another commanding premium when you consider a good-condition Pacer normally fetches about a tenth of that. Also crossing the block was the 1949 Buick used in the film Rain Man , which actor Dustin Hoffman had owned since shooting wrapped and was selling himself, since he admits he no longer uses it. The convertible went for US$335,000 thanks to Bonhams auctioneers; these Buicks typically go for closer to US$100,000.
A long list of American muscle cars and European exotics also changed hands in Arizona, but beyond the big-block Chevrolets and barely-driven Porsches you’d expect there lay a field of unique and sometimes bizarre one-offs. Consider this 1981 Ferrari 400i stretch limousine that Barrett-Jackson helped find a new home for US$52,800. You don’t see too many of this Stateside model as it is, but a V12-powered four-door with a wheelbase probably in excess of 250 inches is something else altogether.
Collector-car insurer Hagerty’s analyzes said that in sum, Arizona Auction Week sales were up 22 per cent despite there being about one-third fewer vehicles up for grabs versus 2020. The average sale price of a car in Scottsdale this year rose to US$126,556 , from $95,152 two years ago. All of which is to say while online auctions are definitely having a major impact on the market, in-person auctions aren’t dead-and-buried just yet, and indeed may be poised for a renaissance like we’ve never seen before.
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