I review the results of Gooding & Company, RM Sotheby's, and Bonhams Scottsdale auctions on my blog at John Wiley Cars: Arizona Auctions Review It seems like two of the auction companies did a lot better at the high end of the market (>= $250,000) and the other did better at the low end.
From the conclusion that auction houses underestimate the final price of low value cars and over estimate those of high value cars is hardly surprising. Getting sellers to bring high value cars to an auction house is much more competitive for high end cars, than for no reserve cars, and to lure the owners auction houses have to push the estimate, the reserve in some cases although less now than a year ago, and promise the seller they will reach a really high price. Ultimately when people have signed, game is over and reality prevails. If a first class car like the ex bob Jane Lightweight E type sells at 20% less than mid estimate, this is the new market. Cannot remember when last a lightweight E type was sold at auction, but was few years ago. Dealers would tell you (me) that some were sold at 11 musd privately, I cannot verify, but when a good one sells for 7.3 m usd, this is the new market. May be was a bad day, bad venue, bad auction house, but was publicized enough for all who wanted such a car to bid.
We inspected the E-Type carefully prior to the auction. It was an original car with a replacement engine that needed EVERYTHING. It was not usable in its current condition. As a result, we looked elsewhere.
Hi Pierre, well, I also saw the E-Jag in Scottsdale and I can confirm that the car can not be used in that condition it was displayed. I found the exstimate for that Jag a little "over-enthusiastic" as its basically still an E-Type... The result in the auction was -IMO- quite high and therefore OK. Only very few cars matched their lower estimates or went up the higher price tag.
It also lacks the important competition history of a Cunningham team car that did Le Mans. The comments on condition remind me of an English adage, it has "Good bones" because it is pretty much original, engine change shouldn't surprise since it was a racer. Thor Thorson is someone I greatly respect for his superb knowledge of historic racers and he has often noted that there are cars with superb race histories and cars that are truly original but there are few if any truly original cars with superb race histories. The Jaguar speaks of the new market which has corrected by 20 - 30% depending on the segment (only selected modern collectables are still red hot) and IIRC was pretty much a good deal all round.
I wrote another post and broke out the higher estimate cars, which I defined as those with an average estimate of at least $250,000. I dropped the no-sales and assigned the cars to condition categories. This group of cars includes the ex-Bob Jane Lightweight Jaguar E-type, although maybe I was too generous in assigning a condition #3 (good) to the Lightweight E-type? John Wiley Cars: 2017 Arizona Auction Review - higher estimate lots The analysis suggests the Jaguar was possibly well sold, but maybe the 340 America was well bought? Once I get more data, the analysis won't be reliant on the pre-auction estimates. Also, any thoughts on the market for 275 GTBs?