Classic car auction house Gooding & Company acquired by Christie’s

| 13 Sep 2024
Classic & Sports Car – Classic car auction house Gooding & Company acquired by Christie’s

Auction firm Christie’s has acquired classic car specialist Gooding & Company, bringing motoring back into the fold after Christie’s closed its car division in 2007.

The value of the deal, which is due to be completed by the end of 2024, has not been disclosed, but Gooding & Company is to retain its headquarters in Los Angeles, California, and there are no planned staff changes. 

“Both Gooding & Company and Christie’s recognise that today’s collectors have interests that reach beyond any one category,” says Gooding & Company co-founder and president David Gooding, who worked for Christie’s in the 1990s before founding his eponymous company with his wife, Dawn Ahrens, in 2003.

“Our clients are constantly in search of items of unmatched quality – whether it is a motor car, a painting, or a piece of fine jewellery.”

Classic & Sports Car – Classic car auction house Gooding & Company acquired by Christie’s
Classic & Sports Car – Classic car auction house Gooding & Company acquired by Christie’s

Gooding & Company sold this 1937 Talbot-Lago T150-C-SS Teardrop Coupé for $13,425,000 at Amelia Island 2022, a world record for the marque (left); this 1967 Toyota-Shelby 2000GT achieved a world-record $2,535,000 at the same event

Christie’s set a world record for a car sold at auction in 1987, at £4.7m (an inflation-adjusted £13m today) for a 1931 Bugatti Royale Type 41 Kellner Coupé.

It has occasionally sold cars in more recent times, including a 1990 Bentley Continental that took $441,000 as part of its $20m Sir Elton John collection sale in New York in February this year.

The firm also set an artwork record at $450,312,500 for a rediscovered Salvator Mundi in 2017, while that for a computer sold at auction was lifted to $1.02m earlier this month with a Cray-1 supercomputer from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s collection.

Classic & Sports Car – Classic car auction house Gooding & Company acquired by Christie’s
Classic & Sports Car – Classic car auction house Gooding & Company acquired by Christie’s

At Amelia Island in 2023, this 1962 Ferrari 250GT SWB California Spider reached $18,045,000 (left); Gooding’s sale of this McLaren F1 in 2021, at $20,465,000, was a world record at auction for the marque

However, the automotive-auction industry has had a difficult year.

Rival RM Sotheby’s reported a 25% fall in auction sales in the first half of 2024, while Christie’s lost 22%, with some events downsized or cancelled, and redundancies reported in both companies.

Gooding & Company has experienced a mixed 2024, with a $108m result at Pebble Beach followed by a 48% sell-through rate at its recent London auction on 30 August (pictured at the top of this page), as part of Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court Palace, bringing in just £7.8m.

With 46 international offices and a scale that puts Christie’s at the top of the market, it is hoped the acquisition will facilitate future global growth for all parts of the business, including the motoring division.

“The legacy that David Gooding and his team have built over the past two decades is well admired by collectors internationally and we could not be more honoured to welcome them into the Christie’s family,” added Christie’s chief executive officer Guillaume Cerutti.

Images: Christie’s Images Ltd 2024


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