2023-02-19 08:00:00
Every spring, numerous lovers and collectors of luxury old and youngtimers take part in the Amelia Island Concours D’Elegance, a special event that has been held annually since 1996 when it began as a charity event. Before 250 historically significant cars are presented in front of the island’s golf club on Sunday, March 5, 2023, four auctions will take place from Thursday to Saturday, which are quite something. A total of 431 chrome jewels will go under the hammer, around 70 of them with a value in the seven-digit euro range.
Bonhams marked the start of the auction marathon on March 2 with a total of 103 cars, four of which, according to experts, should fetch more than one million euros. Two of them stand out in particular: a 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Sports Tourer, which should even reach an eight-digit amount, and a Ferrari F40, built in 1992. Five years ago, the Bugatti underwent an extensive makeover that took 1200 hours, so that it is now in a similar condition to how it was delivered to its first owner in New York 96 years ago. This time it should be worth between nine and eleven million euros.
The Ferrari comes a little cheaper. The youngtimer with racing technology (2936 ccm, 352 kW – 478 hp at 7000 rpm, 324 km/h) should be good for a price of around three million euros.
On Friday and Saturday, Gooding & Company will attempt to hammer out 131 cars, 23 of them for collectors who don’t care regarding a million more or less. The undisputed star is a 1962 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider, estimated at between 16,920,000 and 18,800,000 euros. Only 37 examples of this model were built. Set to change hands on Amelia Island, the car was built specifically for the 1962 New York International Auto Show and finished in a color scheme unique to SWB California Spiders: Azzurro Metallizzato with Natural Connolly Vaumol leather upholstery. Among the other Gooding aspirants to more than one million euros are five models with the Prancing Horse in the logo.
A veritable fireworks display of million sellers awaits visitors on Saturday, March 4th, when two auction houses will be swinging their hammers. RM Sotheby’s will make its final appearance on Amelia Island, auctioning 88 cars including 26 for well over €1m. Again, a 1959 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spider by Scaglietti is at the top. But the market leader among the auctioneers calculates its estimated value at 8,460,000 to 10,340,000 euros, which is almost half less than the competitor Gooding.
In addition, RM Sotheby’s offers a respectable mix of vintage and youngtimers, ranging from the spartan 2010 Pagani Zonda R ‘Revolución Specification’ sports car to the 92-year-old Duesenberg.
The end of the auction on Saturday is the Broad Arrow Group, which is only known to experts in this country, with 109 cars, from which the company hopes more than a million. Here a Porsche 907 K is at the top, which won the Targa Flori in 1968 under Vic Elford. Amelia Island is not an unknown island for the vehicle. In 2007 and 2012 it won the Concours D’Elegance there.
On paper, all four auctions in the first week of March on Amelia Island should break existing records. In any case, they will prove once once more that old sheet metal can be one of the most worthwhile investments. (Hans-Robert Richarz/cen)
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