£1.7m Ferrari 275GTB is Amelia Island’s biggest seller

By Lizzie Pope

| 11 Mar 2019

Classic & Sports Car – £1.7m Ferrari 275GTB is Amelia Island’s biggest seller

When the hammer fell at $2,205,000 (£1,699,272) at RM Sotheby’s on Saturday for this 1965 Ferrari 275GTB by Scaglietti, it became the priciest lot across all auctions at the weekend’s Amelia Island sales.

Chassis number 06899 was an award winner at last year’s Palm Beach Cavallino Classic, Florida’s annual Ferrari event, following its restoration in 2017 by Motion Products.

It is finished in its original shade of Argento, its Nero seats with grey cloth inserts likewise as they would have been when the car left the factory in 1965.

Ferrari 275GTB by Scaglietti on top in Florida

This matching-numbers car, which was sold with its tool roll, a spare set of Borrani wire wheels and proof of its ownership history, was one of nine cars to break the $1m barrier at RM Sotheby’s sale – and one of two Ferraris to achieve this.

The other was a 1992 F40 which went to a new home for $1,017,000 (£783,745), meaning Ferraris bookended the over-$1m lots at RM Sotheby’s 21st Amelia Island auction.

This F40 was sold to Switzerland when new, returning to Italy in around 2007 where it received pre-sale work totalling over $10,000.

Clockwise from top left: F40; Shelby 427 Cobra; 1926 Hispano-Suiza, unique Duesenberg

In between, and, at $1,792,500 (£1,381,381) achieving the sale’s second-highest figure, was a 1966 Shelby 427 Cobra that’s done under 1900 original miles.

It’s the second-to-last 427 Cobra built, with a fully documented history from new – and it is now the most valuable non-competition spec 427 Cobra ever sold at auction.

A unique 1930 Duesenberg Model J 'Sweep Panel' Dual-Cowl Phaeton sold just after it crossed the podium for $1,650,000 (£1,271,564) making it the event’s third biggest lot.

Next were a 2010 Bugatti Veyron 16.4 'Sang Noir' and a 2015 McLaren P1 which fetched $1,500,000 (£1,154,145) and $1,490,000 (£1,146,450) respectively, followed by a 1926 Hispano-Suiza H6B Cabriolet Le Dandy ($1,352,500/£1,040,654), a 1934 Packard Twelve Individual Custom Convertible Sedan $1,325,000 (£1,019,494) and a 2015 Porsche 918 Spyder $1,187,500 (£913,698).

RM Sotheby’s auction total was $38.1m, with 84% of all lots sold.

Left to right: Packard top for Gooding; WhatsApp co-founder's 964 Carrera RS 3.8

However, it was Gooding & Company that achieved the highest sell-through rate of any auction house at Amelia Island – and saw sales of more than $22m in just one day.

Top was a 1930 Packard 734 Speedster Runabout which went to a new home for $1,765,000 (£1,358,043), the apparently one-of-18 remaining examples creeping over the lower end of its $1.7m-2m pre-sale estimate.

Next was a 2015 Porsche 918 Spyder Weissach ($1,490,000/£1,146,450), followed in the over-$1m category by a pair of classic Ferraris – a ’65 275GTS that reached $1,325,000 (£1,019,494) and a ’63 250GT Lusso which sold for $1,226,000 (£943,321) – and two more Porsches.

The first of these was the 1993 Porsche 964 Carrera RS 3.8 owned by WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum which went for $1,132,500 (£871,379), ahead of a 1987 Kremer Porsche 962C twice campaigned at Le Mans and in the iconic Leyton House livery that made $1,022,500.

Left to right: 1930 Cadillac was number one at Bonhams; record for the Welch

Over at Bonhams’ fifth annual Amelia Island sale, just two cars sold for over $1m. Leading the way was a 1930 Cadillac Series 452 V-16 Roadster which hit $1,187,500 (£909,037), chased by the 1968-69 3-Liter Repco Brabham-Cosworth BT26/BT26A once raced by Jochen Rindt and Jacky Ickx, which sold for $1,105,000 (£845,883).

But the real story at this sale was the Don C Boulton Collection of Brass Era cars – an American phrase usually referring to models built between 1896 and 1915.

Frenzied bidding, in the room, over the phone and online, ensured that all 24 of the cars found new homes – and several world records were broken, too.

One record went to the 1908 Welch Model 4-L 50HP Seven-Passenger Touring when it went for $456,000 (£350,860), while $885,000 (£680,945) was paid for a 1914 Simplex Speed Car and $698,000 for a 1904 Peerless Type 8 Roi des Belges from the same collection.

See full Bonhams results here, Gooding & Company’s here and RM Sotheby’s here.

First Jaguar sports car leads incredible Big Cat sale

Unique barn-find Bentley could be the perfect birthday present