MONACO.- Boasting a sale total of €41,303,830 and with an incredible 93 percent of all lots sold,
RM Auctions , the world’s largest collector car auction house for investment-quality automobiles, has once again set the collector car market on fire with an incredible performance in Monaco this weekend. Taking place alongside the Grand Prix de Monaco Historique, the sale saw records tumble as an international audience of bidders scrambled to secure some of the finest historic sports and racing cars ever offered at auction.
With a packed auction room and strong bidding via both telephone and the Internet, the attending audience was treated to an electric atmosphere which lasted through to the final of the 90 lots offered. The top selling car of the night was the simply stunning, and ultra rare 1966 Ferrari 275 GTB/C with coachwork by Scaglietti. Chassis 09067 is the ninth of only twelve such cars produced and perhaps the most original example of its kind, therefore presenting a very rare opportunity indeed. The hammer finally fell at a record-breaking €5,712,000, making it comfortably the most valuable fixed-head Ferrari 275 ever sold at auction. In an evening which once again saw the Ferrari marque dominate and secure six of the top ten prices paid, it was the gorgeous 1959 Ferrari 250 GT Pininfarina Series I Cabriolet, chassis 1181 GT, that generated the second highest bid of the evening, securing €4,704,000 to become the most valuable of its model ever sold at auction. Rounding off the top three sellers was the 1967 Ferrari 330 GTS, chassis 10719, one of ninety-nine built and a multiple concours winner, which found a new home for €2,128,000.
Max Girardo, Managing Director of RM Auctions, Europe, says: “It’s not often I’m lost for words, but I am simply stunned by what we have achieved tonight in Monaco. From a results perspective, this has been our biggest ever European sale and the 93 percent sell through figure is testament to the diversity and depth of quality that we had on offer. The atmosphere and energy was incredible right through to the final lot and it’s a particular delight that we have attracted so many enthusiastic new bidders from all around the world.”
Perfectly matched to a sale taking place in Monaco alongside the Grand Prix de Monaco Historique, the roster of cars on offer included a large number of sports-racing and single-seater grand prix cars. Among the feature lots was the immaculate, race-ready 1966 Brabham-Repco BT20 Formula One car, a significant racer which had been victorious at the 1967 Monaco Grand Prix in the hands of Denny Hulme during his championship-winning year. Boasting that kind of provenance, it was particularly satisfying to see the car achieve €1,092,000, a stunning sum which smashed its pre-sale high estimate of €720,000. The Brabham wasn’t the only lot on offer to have a particularly strong relationship with the principality, as RM also proudly offered the 1958 Riva Tritone also known as ‘Via’. This super-stylish and powerful boat was owned from new by H.S.H. Prince Rainier lll of Monaco and his wife, Princess Grace, and is therefore an important piece of cultural history in the principality. Wonderfully restored and totally stunning, the boat secured €403,200.
