August Car Week in Monterey is amazing, culminating in the incredible Concours d’Elegance Pebble Beach on Sunday. The auction action has historically set much of the tone for the classic car market. All the auction houses have a presence, including Bonham’s, Broad Arrow, RM Sotheby’s, Mecum and Gooding & Co. All very exciting for those wanting to experience everything at car week.
Here are the auctions by the numbers. In four days, more than 1100 vehicles were offered, and 73 percent of them sold. Of those offered, only 163 were potentially worth $1M or more. Total sales for the five auctions were just under $392M. Despite all those big numbers, fewer lots were offered this year, total sales were down by three percent, and the average price fell from last year. Why the softer results?
Broad Arrow Auctions provided some insight. They returned for their third year at the Monterey Jet Center with the two-day auction totaling $71.5 million in sales with 85 percent of all lots sold. The auction culminated in the sale of the 1997 Porsche 911 GT1 Rennversion, a highly regarded and superbly preserved example of the mere 9 customer GT1’s constructed. The racer was contested by multiple bidders in the room and on the phone before selling for a final $7,045,000. However, many of our favorite Jaguars either failed to sell or sold far below their estimate.
As Kenneth Ahn, President of Hagerty Marketplace and Broad Arrow said, “Auction results during Monterey Car Week showed a greater bifurcation in the market, especially at the $1 million-plus level – more collectors were on the sidelines for $1 million-plus cars compared to recent years, but others engaged and bid actively, especially for more modern, next-generation enthusiast cars.” Barney Ruprecht, Vice-President of Auctions for Broad Arrow adds, “Broad Arrow serves a wide range of collecting interests; however, our catalog curation is decidedly “younger” than many of our competitors, a reflection of both the shifting tastes of the next generation of collectors and the expertise of our unmatched team of specialists.
Monterey is known for those big-ticket $1,000,000+ cars to dominate the headlines. But the interesting thing was that of all the cars across different price points, the top end of the market did the least well of all. For cars below $500,000 the data shows a strong resilient market, for the $1,000,000+ market real struggle - only 54% of cars sold and 60% of vehicles failed to reach their lower estimate. To summarize, lower value vehicles performed far better than their more expensive counterparts.
Someone mentioned recently that some of us are “aging out” of the car market. Does that then mean that the appeal of vintage seven-figure cars like 1930s coach built French cars is diminishing? Both the 1937 Bugatti Type 57 Atalante at Gooding (low est. $9M) and the 1938 Talbot-Lago T10C Teardrop Coupe at Broad Arrow (low est. $6.5M) were no sales. Conversely, auction companies sold modern track-only sports racing cars, with Gooding selling a 1995 Ferrari 333 SP Evoluzione for $5,120,000 and the Broad Arrow $7,045,000 1997 Porsche.
The 1990s, 2000s, 2010s and 2020s performed the best of all decades when you look across the sell-through rate and price achieved vs estimate. The 2000s was the strongest performing decade of all. Sell-through rate stood at 81% and 23% of cars exceeded their top estimate.
Experts say wealthy collectors still have plenty of money to spend and are feeling confident given the recent rise in the stock market, but the types of cars they want are changing. There were simply too many similar cars at too many auctions to generate strong prices and sales. "It's saturation," said Simon Kidston, the founder of Kidston and a leading advisor to wealthy car collectors. "When I walked around the auctions and saw so much similar 'product,' I asked myself if any of them had thought about what they or their rivals already had consigned, and if the cars were vying for the same buyers.”
At the same time, a new generation of collectors are driving the market — mainly Gen Xers and millennials — prefer cars from the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. The 1950s and 1960s classic cars that powered the market for decades and are popular with baby boomers are pouring onto the market and failing to find buyers.
Well, where does that leave us with our beloved Jaguars? Here are some key sales from the week, with sale prices falling to a level where buyers can pick up a “deal” or something rare and interesting at a discount:
Broad Arrow
· 1974 Jaguar E Type Roadster, $76,500
· 1967 Jaguar E Type 1-1/2 Roadster, $90,000
· 1968 Jaguar E Type, 1-1/2 Roadster, $80,000
RM Sotheby’s
· 1956 XK140 SE Fixed Head Coupe By Ghia, $300,000 (est $500-$650K). One of four in existence.
· 1991 Jaguar XJR-15 $820,000 (est. $900-1.1MM)
Mecum
· 1967 E Type Roadster, Series I, $180,000
· 1948 Mark IV Drophead Coupe, $70,000
Gooding
· 1966 E Type Series I 4.2 Roadster, $300,000 (est. $175-$225K)
· 1967 E Type Series I 4.2 Fixed Head Coupe, $205,000 (est. $175-$225K)
Bottom line, enjoy your classics and drive them with enthusiasm!
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