Monday, January 25, 2010

Auction Action Torrential Despite Arizona Rains

PHOENIX — Despite shockingly un-desertlike rains, auction houses holding their traditional winter events in the Phoenix area mainly had great success over the weekend. RM Auctions recorded $19.6 million in sales over two days, selling 89 percent of its stock. Gooding & Co. sold 49 of its 52 lots and recorded a $3.74 million sale of a 1956 Jaguar D-Type sports-racing car.

The news was not as good for Russo and Steele. The firm's 10th annual auction was postponed to Sunday and Monday after torrential rains caused two massive tents to collapse — and one to blow out onto the highway, closing it to traffic. There was damage to some vehicles but no serious injuries, Arizona's Republic newspaper reported.

Gooding's auction was most notable for the D-Type sale, but a 1934 Duesenberg Model J Disappearing-Top Convertible Coupe was sold for $1.815 million and a 1959 Costin Lister Jaguar sports-racing car broke a record, selling for $1.1 million. Other interesting cars to cross the block were a 1927 Bentley 6.5-liter sport coupe, selling for $726,000, and a 1948 Cadillac Series 62 Custom Cabriolet, which sold for $649,000.

At RM Auctions in Phoenix this weekend, there was a British theme. A 1963 Aston Martin DB4 GT, the last one to be built and sold from Newport Pagnell, sold for $1,001,000. A 1965 Aston Martin DB5 sold for $429,000, while a matched pair of DB Mark IIIs sold together, with the drophead coupe going for $330,000 and the sedan going for $275,000.

Other sales of interest included a 1967 Shelby 427 Cobra that had been in the Otis Chandler Collection, which sold for $632,500, and a 1932 Duesenberg Model J Tourster for $550,000. Two Detroit concepts from the '50s were sold at the RM event — a 1954 Mercury XM-800 Dream Car at $429,000 and a 1956 Cadillac "Maharani Special" Motorama Showcar at $225,500.

Inside Line says: Bad weather, good sales in Arizona. — Laura Sky Brown, Correspondent

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