The 10 most expensive cars sold at the 2019 Arizona auctions
It was a fairly strong year at the 2019 Arizona auctions, totaling $251M in overall sales across the week’s festivities. That’s more or less level with last year’s $248M sum, although this year we saw a slight drop in the number of elite-tier cars that sold through. While the average overall sale price is up slightly and cars under $250K are attracting more buyers, sell-through for top-tier million-dollar-plus cars was just 57 percent, and both RM Sotheby’s and Gooding & Company failed to sell heavy hitters.
“The top-end of the collector car market has cooled over the past year or two, which means that buyers don’t worry about missing out,” says Hagerty senior valuation specialist John Wiley. “Instead, they can afford to be patient and wait for the right car with no needs and no stories.
“The Ferrari 275 GTB Prototype at Gooding needed to have three cosmetic items addressed before Ferrari Classiche could award it a competition car red book. Bringing the car to auction in a patient market without that work done—even though the consignor offered to pay for the changes at a world-class shop—may have been a serious misjudgment.”
Still, some seriously pricy metal changed hands. And if you like Ferraris, it’s your lucky day—6 out of the 10 most expensive transactions during the Arizona sales were from Maranello. So without further delay, here are the big sellers:
1967 Ferrari 330 GTS Spider
Sold for $2,012,500 (RM Sotheby’s)
Average value in #2 condition (Excellent): $2.55M
This beautiful Pininfarina-designed roadster sold once before at RM’s Amelia Island auction way back in 2000, when Skip Barber bought it for $260,700. There are almost 4400 more miles on the odometer since then, so it looks like the car was enjoyed a bit. Eight examples of this car have come up for auction in the last five years, at an average price of $3.83M.
2020 Toyota Supra Coupe
Sold for $2,100,000 (Barrett-Jackson) *charity sale
Average value in #2 condition (Excellent): N/A
Well that escalated quickly. This turned out to be the most anyone has paid for a Japanese car at auction, although there is the qualification that this was a charity sale. Still, this is crazy money for a car that tops out at under $58,000 for the Launch Edition. Basically all that’s special is the one-off matte paint job and red mirror caps. Despite that it beat the first production 2020 Shelby Mustang GT500.
1958 BMW 507 Roadster
Sold for $2,175,000 (RM Sotheby’s)
Average value in #2 condition (Excellent): $2.1M
A very fine example with a hardtop, this BMW 507 has the added benefit of a five-speed from an unknown donor car. The original car had a four-speed, but the alteration didn’t stop this BMW from selling. Also earning this 507 points was its factory hard top, disc brakes, and Rudge wheels. It’s a solid result, having previously sold for $1,925,000 at Gooding’s Pebble Beach auction in 2014.
2019 Ford GT Heritage Edition
Sold for $2,500,000 (Barrett-Jackson)
Average value in #2 condition (Excellent): N/A
Another charity sale, this one of the modern Ford GT supercar in a new Heritage Edition (read: Gulf) livery. It’s also bearing VIN 001 of this edition, which some people might put stock into. I’m struggling to find a context in which the new GT doesn’t look spectacular. Coming up empty.
1985 Ferrari 288 GTO Coupe
Sold for $2,507,500 (Gooding & Company)
Average value in #2 condition (Excellent): $2.35M
People go nuts over the F40 and the Testarossa, but they often forget that the 288 GTO was equally if not more outrageous. After all, this is the car Ferrari homologated to compete in Group B. It was one of two to cross the block in Arizona this year, and we determined it to be in #2-(Excellent) condition. It still sold for better than our average for comparable 288 GTOs.
1951 Maserati A6G 2000 Spider
Sold for $2,755,000 (Bonhams)
Average value in #2 condition (Excellent): N/A
This car has a pretty cool story attached to it, where a server at a restaurant in California told some European collectors in 1997 she had an old Italian car. She and her sister had inherited it, and it had a Corvette engine as well as some SCCA racing pedigree. It took three years to convince the owners to sell, and a restoration to the original 6-cylinder engine ensued. It’s not the most original example, but damn if it’s not a stunner.
1985 Ferrari 288 GTO Coupe
Sold for $3,360,000 (RM Sotheby’s)
Average value in #2 condition (Excellent): $2.35M
The other 288 GTO on offer last week, which sold a sight better than its twin at Gooding. Rightfully so, because this was the better car. It had optional red seat inserts, air conditioning, power windows, and just 2900 miles. Even top Concours-condition cars command on average $2.7M, so this was a car someone really wanted and was willing to cough up the cash for.
1953 Ferrari 250 MM Spider
Sold for $5,395,000 (Gooding & Company)
Average value in #2 condition (Excellent): N/A
This car went to Gooding Pebble Beach in 2004 and hammered not sold at a $1.6M high bid. It’s a complete example without any sordid stories attached to it, and although it’s not destined for a Pebble Beach Best of Show this is still an amazing car in more than respectable condition. Someone is going to an absolute blast driving this machine, whether on the road or on an open race track. It would make quite a statement in a parade, too.
1958 Ferrari 250 GT TdF Coupe
Sold for $5,890,000 (Gooding & Company)
Average value in #2 condition (Excellent): $9.8M
This is a fairly low price for a TdF. Still, it sold right in the meat of its $5.75M-$6.5M pre-sale estimate, so clearly this wasn’t all that unexpected. Possibly diminishing the value was this car’s involvement in a fatal accident as well as the fact that it was rebodied. Plus it’s a single louvre car, and everyone knows that mo’ louvres means mo’ money.
1963 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Coupe
Sold for $7,595,000 (Gooding & Company)
Average value in #2 condition (Excellent): $10.9M
Even though it was the top sale of the whole 2019 Arizona auctions, this 250 GT still sold low—our #4-condition (Fair) average value is $8.4M. And it didn’t just sell low because Nicolas Cage once owned it. If anything, it might have performed as such because it was a late-model production example with the luxury package, and lacking competition history.
