Silverstone Auctions 21st September 2019

I love the LHD C4!

 

All the 575s are listed as "manual". All of them are F1s. One of them sneakily doesn't show the transmission tunnel at all in the images, but you can just make out the paddles in the soft-focus image they provide.

Six Maranellos. I wonder if they told the consignors they were in such abundant company.

 

I am afraid you may be seeing things:

The titles are clear:

Lot No. 311 - 2004 Ferrari 575M Maranello F1 Fiorano

Lot No. 313 - 2002 Ferrari 575M Maranello F1

Lot No. 318 - 2003 Ferrari 575M Maranello F1 Fiorano

I don't see any subterfuge.

 

And that's the a-maz-ing thing about the Internet, they can update things. The listings were as manuals yesterday. It's good to see they have been prodded into clarity.

Meanwhile, BarryK, it is so nice to hear your dulcet tones on this forum again, I speak for many when I say we have missed you enormously. You will forgive me if I perhaps don't respond to you as much as I should.

 

They still have a Daytona toolkit listed as "complete" which is clearly missing two screwdrivers. It makes one consider outbidding everyone and then refusing to pay because the item has been misdescribed. If they cannot be bothered to give accurate descriptions, they should not be in the business.

 

And the truly amazing thing is how the auctioneer managed a feat of time travel to correct the listings which I had downloaded a few days earlier which had them as F1. No matter as the titles are correct as of now.

Thank you. It is with a heavy heart that I seek elsewhere to fill the void that your lack of responses will leave my life with.

 

I have two Bowie knives I can lend you two, or two professional throwing knives, if you prefer.

 

Yes, and there was that unpleasant business last year over the 964RS. There are good people working there but the organisation as a whole is a bit sharp on occasion.

 

Sounds like just the ticket!

 

While all this talk of knife throwing conjures up images of two old boys of the 550 forum practising their knife skills from the comfort of their armchairs that is moderately entertaining, there is perhaps a more serious point here:

You say Silverstone are sneaky with photos and refer to "unpleasant business". I have bought and sold maybe 40 cars in auctions over as many years, including two sold via Silverstone within the last year. In both cases, they gave me the draft of the description to review and mark up. There were small items (like the screwdrivers that @Bluebottle refers to) needing correction. But the reality is no house is naive enough to try and mislead buyers on F1 vs manual.

In the case of the 964RS, I am unsure which car you refer to (chassis #9173 or #9272), but in the latter case, the catalogue description was clear on vendor commissioned documentation. On the day while some of the history files had fallen out of order having passed through many hands for inspection, but any well-prepared bidder should and would have been aware of their nature. There is little point in blaming the house afterwards.

Which brings me to my point. Until the last price bubble started around 2010-11, auctions I have participated in had experienced buyers who came prepared, having done their homework and with their eyes wide open. Auction houses were "sharp" and "buyer beware" was the byword. Now there is a group who come armed with google search and think they are omniscient as a result. And cry at the first instance when things go wrong and blame the auction house. So when you see comments like the above, one wonders if there is a back story of sour grapes (or just some general muck throwing for fun?)

Sometimes, when you want to buy a steak, it is better to go to the friendly neighbourhood butcher than to a cattle auction. And, either way, you and your pal can put your knives to better use there

 

Bowie knives and throwing knives are poor tools for butchers. Designed for other things.

 

the wear on the seat bolster of the blue car doesn't look like the cars only done 34KM. maybe 134km

 

A mixed bag, you'll always get some ropey vendors at auctions like these..

The low-mile 550 looks nice and is a kind of RHD equivalent of my own dearly departed low-mile Rosso Corsa 550 which was written off by a falling tree while in storage earlier this year. A collector's car, with such low miles, I wonder if collectors will be bidding. If it achieves its guide price, I will be thinking my insurance should have paid out more.

Alan, are you planning to bid? I'm not sure any of them are guided low enough to buy with no warranty etc.

 

Sorry to hear that, about the uncertainty. It’s a great shame if it means more time without a Maranello, but understandable of course.

Meanwhile here’s another auction Maranello that is unlikely to reach anything like low estimate.

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/25824/lot/172/

I can see why you’d stick a car on sale or return at a high price, I do it myself, but auction makes no sense.

 

The LHD 550 looked quite nice, for a blast down to the Riviera.

 

Pretty interesting. Surprised the 3k mile 550 did not attract more bids, but 88k for the Grigio/Bordeaux car (101k with commission) felt like a fair offer - but clearly the seller didn’t need to sell.

 

Also - seems like a bad day for Silverstone. Only 1 in 3 cars selling. My guesstimate is that they made 130k commission on the Ferrari sale - not a great return on what appears to be a lot of work. Still - selling the Carrera GT in the Porsche sale probably helped ...

 

All agreed. You are buying a bit more peace of mind from a dealer like KHPC than you could possibly get in an auction. Interesting than the red car was priced lower than the higher mile black car..