Postcard RM London

Postcard RM London

Postcard from RM Auctions London
Report & pics by Ed Brown

2.11.08

Canadian RM Auctions followed up its second sale in Maranello this May with a return trip to London and the Battersea Evolution and with 100 cars, a 69% sale rate and revenues of almost £15 million, it was another good result despite the economic uncertainty.

The spacious exhibition venue allowed all cars to be displayed internally, with two 275GTB/4s greeting attendees in the reception, along with a Bentley R type Continental and American Charles McCabe’s Maserati 250F CM1 replica on the Historic Grand Prix Cars Association stand.


The Battersea Evolution provided an interesting ambiente	Based on a 330 MK1 this SWB replica made £187k and looked good in giallo	Trade consigned F50 sold well at £319k	Argentinian built Pur Sang Type 35 Bugatti copy was a surprise no sale

The dimly lit auction room had seating for 1,000 bidders and with auctioneers Peter Bainbridge and Max Girardo reviving their highly effective double act the stage was set for a marathon five hour auction and some surprising prices. A full copy of the results in sterling (including buyers premium) can be viewed on on RM's website - here were my personal highlights…

Star lot and heading Stateside, the ’97 McLaren F1 was chassis 65 of 69 road cars produced and with only 484kms from new, reached a surprising £2.53million.

One of my post war favourites has always been the Zagato-designed Aston Martin DB4, complete with powerful 314bhp engine and raced in period by Sir Stirling Moss and Roy Salvadori. The consigned tool-room copy, “Sanction 2”, was built at a cost of £750k and seemed superb value at £330k.

Of the 21 Ferraris offered 13 have new owners, with top prices paid for the 250 Tour de France (£2.25million and heading to China) and the competition-ready 250LM (£2.25million). Rarely are four 275GTB/4’s offered in the same sale and the bids achieved acknowledged a “softening” in the market, with only chassis #9803 (£577.5k) selling. Of the remaining tipi, the 250 California Spyder couldn’t tempt anyone despite a high bid of £2.62million, whilst there was good news for the vendors of a 330 based 250 SWB replica (£187k), a LHD 330GTC (£137.5k) and a trade consigned F50 (£319k). For those with competition in mind, the Spanish liveried, Darro prepared 355 Challenge was a good buy (£34k) and the 365GT “Queen Mary” (£44k) ably demonstrated that there’s still affordable V12 motoring!

We are unlikely to see a collection of ten Lancias consigned on the same night anytime soon, of which seven sold. Most expensive was the very rare RHD Aurelia Spyder America (£181.5k) whilst the Lambda Dilambda (£66k) and Aurelia B20 6th series (£66k) highlighted renewed interest in the Turin marque.

There were cars to suit all budgets, the ex Bernie Ecclestone Rolls Royce Camargue (£22k) was in good order and ready for touring, the Chevrolet Corvette (£26.4k) could not have been replicated for twice the money and the Lancia Aprilia (£16.5k) just needs using.

Overall RM must be pleased, setting a world record for the sale of a McLaren F1 under difficult circumstances and judging by the bidding, the majority of buyers were enthusiasts rather than trade…… and despite all this temptation, I managed to keep my hands in my pockets!


250 Ellena complete with Classiche certificate couldn't tempt bidders above £120k	Did colour scheme on this UK trade consigned 250GTO replica help it to a no sale?	Spanish consigned 355 Challenge was a good buy at £34k	Overall Winner of the 2006 Turin Concours this Lancia Astura was bid to £150k and it wasn't enough


Amazingly this is an Austin Allegro! Andy Saunders creation went for £5.5k	Well known UK 250LM has a new owner at £2.25million	£2.62million didn't secure this matching, no stories, hard topped California	Spanish consigned 360GT Modena was no 4 of 20 built by Michelotto but went home without a new owner at £75k