Sports & Classics of Monterey
RM generates $34 million in sales in its three-night event
WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVID LaCHANCE
This was a year of churn on the Monterey peninsula. Even though yet another major auction house,
Mecum, joined the party, Monterey stalwart RM Auctions offered a generous
field of 2 39 cars, up from 170-plus in 2008,
and nearly 200 in 2007. The sell-through
rate was a healthy 85 percent, though
total sales, at $34 million, were well off
from last year’s $44 million, and 2007’s
record $46 million.
Conventional wisdom says that the best
examples of the best cars are the sound-est investments, and that seemed to be
the case here. The two top sales were
for British racing icons: a 1952 Jaguar
C-Type, at a world-record $2.53 million,
and a 1955 Aston Martin DB3S, at $1.98
million. Only two American cars broke
into the top 10 sales: a 1935 Duesenberg
Model SJ disappearing top Convertible
Coupe, which sold for $1.43 million, and a
1931 Miller V- 16 race car, which brought
$600,000. Those who had the money to
buy seemed spoiled for choice, and could
well afford to pick and choose.
The first night of the three-night auction was dedicated to the sale of 51 cars
from the Nick Alexander Woodie Collection. Sales totaled $7.3 million, with a 1946
Mercury Sportsman Convertible, the rarest of the lot, bringing $368, 500. Interest
in the sale was huge, as evidenced by the
packed house in the ballroom of the Por-tola Hotel & Spa in downtown Monterey.
All sales figures below include a 10 percent buyer’s premium.
LEGEND
Condition: #1–Excellent; #2–Very Good #3–Average; #4–Poor; #5–Major Project
Reserve: Minimum price owner will accept
Top price bid: The highest offer made
Selling price: What the vehicle sold for
Average selling price: Average market value of vehicles in similar condition
Year: 1935
Model: SJ
Condition: Restored/#1-
Reserve: Undisclosed
Selling price:
$1, 430,000
Average selling
price: $1.4 million
DUESENBERG
Year: 1955
Model: DB3S
Condition: Restored/#2
Reserve: Undisclosed
Selling price:
$1,980,000
Average selling
price: N/A
ASTON MARTIN
Year: 1952
Model: 225S “Sport”
Condition: Restored/#3
Reserve: Undisclosed
FERRARI
Selling price:
$781,000
Average selling
price: N/A
Year: 1949
Model: Town and Country
Condition: Restored/#2
Reserve: Undisclosed
CHRYSLER
Selling price:
$123,750
Average selling
price: $98, 500
It took RM about 1, 100 words to tell
the stranger-than-fiction history of
this Duesenberg, while we’ve got
room for less than a tenth of that.
So we’ll just say that the twists and
turns of the plot united supercharged
engine J- 527 with chassis 2406, a
short-wheelbase Murphy Convertible
Coupe. Both preeminent Duesenberg
authority Randy Ema and the award-winning Stone Barn Automobile
Restoration had had their hands
on this car, and the quality showed.
Neither the paint nor the chrome
seemed recent, but both were excellent, and the only wear visible on
the leather upholstery was to a bit of
piping. Another Duesenberg, a Model
J once owned by Hopalong Cassidy,
brought $1.437 million at Bonham’s
Quail Lodge sale.
This was one of 20 “customer” cars
built by Aston Martin without the hot,
twin-plug cylinder head used in the
11 works cars, and was sold new to
an Australian team that came to be
known as Kangaroo Stables. Its owner
sold off the body in the 1960s, intending to build a V- 8 powered special,
then changed his mind and bought
the body from a second “customer”
DB3S. At least two restorations fol-
lowed, the most recent in the early
1990s by experts in the U.K. The
occasional paint chip and the grub-
biness of the steering wheel showed
that this car had been driven, though
the tartan upholstery looked new.
Rare, beautiful and hugely valuable,
even without a major race win under
its belt.
One of just six built, this 225S was
powered by—gasp!—a Corvette
engine when collector Donald R.
Wasserman bought it in 1971. He
had the car restored, and located
an engine from an early 250 GT, a
2,715cc SOHC V- 12 similar in looks
and performance to the original. The
cognoscenti blessed the work with
a class win at Pebble Beach in 1979.
Offered for sale by Wasserman’s
estate, the 225S had the hallmarks
of an older restoration that had been
lovingly used. Oh, and the original
V- 12? It was across the auction
hall, installed in a 166MM Spider
Scaglietti that was a no-sale at $1.1
million. Where else but Monterey?
The CCCA this past summer ushered
post-war Town and Countrys into the
Full Classic club, but closed the velvet
rope just in front of the 1949 model’s
nose. The odometer here read 100
miles, indicating a recent restoration,
though the light scratches in the
paintwork suggested otherwise. The
interior, a nice two-tone combina-
tion of tan Bedford cord and green
leather, looked fresh. The consignor
claimed that the exterior wood trim
was original, and it seemed to be in
good shape. The big radio grille that
occupied the center of the dash was
beautifully replated. T and Cs were
on the rise before the CCCA’s vote;
even non-Classics like this one seem
a good investment.
