Monterey/ Pebble Beach auction thread

Silver/Black. Psychotic jewelry/brain-surgery level of restoration.

 

Any idea what the reserve was? Seems like a pretty significant car

 

Owner wanted close to 250 LM money. It's not quite worth that.

 

A nice article- thank you for sharing. So what happens next?

 

Why did this car catch such a high bid ? I get that it was a very nice restoration and had a well documented history etc but what else made it special? Is it a record price for a 330GT 2+2?

 

Two drunk gentleman "swinging" away

That's all it takes sometimes...

But seriously, it was a nice car and well documented, but GTC money (or over following last week)? Pass.

 

Looking at the listing it seems that it was restored to concourse condition and it is a 2 headlight version. The guidance was more or less correct but this car sold for more than 60% more than expected.

 

This article mentions that Lussos were now barely $2M. I remember in 2014 turning down a chance to buy one for 1.5M. I dont know if I would buy it today if it was offered to me at 1.5M because that is a hell of a lot of money for a car that wasn't raced and produced in the hundreds. I am not surprised that the prices are 20% off their highs because they rose so fast. There is no rule that says that classic Fcars from the 50's and 60's have to increase double digits each year. People shouldn't panic nor get upset. If you have nice Ferrari or two, just enjoy it. Keeping money in these cars is still a better bet than becoming a unsecured creditor to a bank (i.e. depositing cash) or buying stocks which themselves are in a super bubble due to the zero interest rate environment.

 

Awesome work product Tim. Thanks.

 

There is a correction taking place in classic cars this is clear. Although I have no crystal ball I highly doubt Lusso's will drop back to $1.5m. Only 350 of these cars were made and many consider (myself included) it to be the prettiest Ferrari ever made even though its not perfect to drive.

But you make a very good point. What goes up that fast (in price) comes down eventually. Ferrari included. A correction is normal. Healthy. Necessary. Agree with your stock market analysis too by the way.

 

After 2008 the market took a gasp - and came back stronger than ever before.

I do not believe that the market comes back soon so strong than in 2013-15 but it will come back.

Far too much $$$$s are floading around the globe and need to be invested....sooner or later!

Ciao!
Walter

 

No, all it takes is one drunk gentleman and a ringer.....

 

Touché sir!

 

Actually that is the problem Walter. Money is for free and sooner or later that will have devastating consequences. Its fake money and fake money cannot be invested in real assets in the long run.

 

It could...

 

Is this true? I don't know the auction system well, so I may be wrong, but I've always thought that shill bidders only were involved until there is a real bid or until it hits reserve.

 

3 bidders in the room and all wanted the car. Perfect timing for the seller......

 

@275GTBSaran & @FarEastFerrari,
Thank you both for your insights and thoughts.

All I can tell you is I think the Lusso is great fun to drive and a debate of the merits/ demerits of the car would also be enjoyable.

The Lusso is last of the 250s- a truly legendary series of cars. My opinion for what it's worth, the Lusso represents the moment that Mr. Enzo Ferrari broadened his thinking to sell a more street biased vehicle along side the pure race cars for the street. You could argue its the foundation for all the modern V12 cars, though I think that's too simple.

And yet, even though the car was more designed for the street and for beauty, some people took them racing and had success!

And it really is a gorgeous car. The most beautiful Ferrari ever? Thats a fun debate. I think its in the group of "most beautiful", that's for sure.

I like the advice from FarEastFerrari: Just drive it!

 

Tim...thanks for the re-mail of the revised document and spreadsheet. Epic work.

One note is that I think Mecum S105.1 and S108.1 have been reversed in the spreadsheet. S108.1 is the Enzo that sold and S105.1 is the 288 that did not sell. A number of news agencies have also reported them reversed.

See
https://www.mecum.com/auctions/monterey-2016/lots/08/20/page/4/?PageSpeed=noscript

 

The Lusso is geared too high and has some front end issues that now can be fixed fairly easily. I had one as a daily driver in NYC back when they were just used cars. Swapping the rear end ratios helps a bunch. Still like a Daytona not much fun to drive in modern urban traffic. I love the Lusso but Alfa's are a lot more fun to drive

 

So the market was very strong then a bit frothy then some crazy asking prices plus you expect the usual crazy Pebble red mist and so it seems like a big drop but.....if you look at the data it does not look too bad to me. I was going through the spreadsheet that Thomas put together (really awesome by the way!) and the data tells a few things.

1. Some buyer reserves/expectations are either too high or they paid too much recently
2. Mecum was a disaster overall. Ferrari's at a 30% sale rate but the ones that did sell the prices were within the estimates overall.
3. Removing Mecum, the other auction houses were able to sell in the 80%+ range and the gross fell within estimates overall.
4. pricing seem pretty consistent between pre-war, 55-73, and 74 on.
5. If I remove no-sales, the overall total still slightly exceeded the low estimates on 300 million plus in sales.

Again, we have become used to shattering records at Monterey and not getting to low estimate but the pricing is still fairly strong to me.

I see some of the 55-73 cars as having peaked and are backing down. If boomers have had enough then I am not sure that segment will every be as strong again. I don't see the sky falling but I do believe a generational effect will take place.

Just my .02 on the data

 

there has been a pause in printing of money... when the printing is turned back on prices will once again esculate... everyone is waiting on election results before committing.... if there is too much printing the economies become the proverbial house of cards... regardless the best cars will continue as a store of value