Auction Climate Change ?

[christopher storey]

There was a somewhat sobering set of results in the Duxford Auction on Wednesday . Although the auction house , as might be expected, reviewed the auction in upbeat fashion, largely because three very expensive cars did sell, out of 122 lots no fewer than 40 failed to sell . These included, from memory, 3 E types, a rather peculiar XK120 , a Silver Cloud Convertible, and a very nice looking Mark VIIM. Judging by the estimates, this was not just a case of the reserves being ridiculously high, and it was noteworthy that even amongst those lots which did sell, many were at the low estimate level or even below it, particularly if buyers' premium was ignored. This was perhaps the clearest example so far of a deteriorating market - there have been a few straws in the wind, but not, I think, one where about 25% of lots failed to find a buyer

[andrewh]

The market has been like this for at least 18 months if you look into it in depth. I don't think the results are any worse than a lot of other auctions. What does seem to characterise the results out there is quality. Any cars with dubious histories or un attractive condition are not going to sell. Take a look at the 3.8 Roadster , genuine RHD car, purporting to be original, although I suspect it was an older restoration , this made £146,000 at Historics last month and needed a full rebuild. The froth blew out of the market a long while ago, if forced to put a date on it I would say about August 2015. The good news about it all, is that it has not crashed, just dipped down a bit and become more discerning, as it should. That shows a maturity of asset class that all who put savings into their toys will welcome. Certainly helps justifying the expense back at home

[mgcjag]

We talked about this one elseware on the forum but saw it at the NEC and looks even worse....be interesting to see what it goes for http://www.classiccarauctions.co.uk/jaguar-e-type-7354

[rfs1957]

That "Wet Field Find" presumably boils down to "what is a log-book worth" ?

No amount of moody Art-Quality photographs can hide the fact that there will be almost no reusable parts on this car, and the ones that can be saved are of such little value that, as a proportion of the cost required to build a new car around the log-book, well, you might as well just buy a log-book.

My experience of trying to save "solid"parts - on cars that are a million miles removed from the condition of that one - suggests that once corrosion has got hold of something, it's virtually impossible to restore it without changing the shape and appearance - simply because you're removing metal to get down to healthy core.

That sale estimate will require a unique combination of a snake-oil arts-graduate client-advisor working within a dishonest auction-house and a desperately gullible customer who hasn't bothered to ring Hutsons, Wilkinsons, or Angus Moss first.

[cactusman]

Remarkably they assess it at 28/135.....so that's 20.7% of the way to perfect!!!!! Plainly nonsense....more like 2%...and that is for the log book....fool's and their money.....

[mgcjag]

Here you go..thete is a poll running on tne sale price ....viewtopic.php?f=15&t=10287