Around the houses, April 2011

— RM AUCTIONS —
American auction houses proved there is still money to be made in classic cars during Scottsdale week in January, together selling an astonishing £98.1m worth of machinery. RM Auctions had a very successful sale at the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa, raising over £19 million. The exMille Miglia 1949 Ferrari 166MM Barchetta that Motor Sport featured in the February issue went for £1.18m. Other racers in our Scottsdale preview also found new homes — the 1959 Costin Jaguar (£131,660), 1952 Tojeiro MG Barchetta (£90,080), 1950 Healey Silverstone (£121,265) and the 1939 Bugatti Type 57C (£575,145). And RM set a new record when a 1955 MercedesBenz 3005L coupe sold for £866,080.
At its Amelia Island sale on March 12 RM has a 1930 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Spider (680930,000), a 2002 Cadillac Northstar Le Mans Prototype (£125-185,000), a 1962 Elder Offy Indy racer (£75-100,000), a 1956 Austin-Healey 100M ‘Le Mans’ roadster (£75-95,000) and a 1950 Fitch-Whitmore Le Mans racer (£110155,000). There are also two interesting Ferraris on sale — a 1953 Ferrari 212 Inter Coupe by Vignale (£230-310,000) and one of three 1952 Ferrari 340 Mexico Berlinettas (£1.7-2.2m).

— RUSSO AND STEELE —
“We knocked it clean out the park and ripped the cover off the ball this year,” said Russo and Steele CEO Drew Alcazar after the company’s £13m Scottsdale sale. The highlights? A 1955 MercedesBenz 300 SL Gullwing sold for £443,430 and a 1965 Shelby Cobra CSX 1001 for £211,320.

— GOODING AND COMPANY —
The US auction house broke 11 records as it posted £22m in Scottsdale sales. A 2006 Ferrari FXX Evoluzione was the star car, going for £1.3m (an FXX record), while a 1953 Fiat 8V Supersonic generated £1.1m — £200,000 above estimate. An ex-SCCA 1964 Porsche 904 Carrera GTS made £648,240 and a 1930 Duesenberg Model J Dual Cowl Phaeton went for £935,385.
Gooding and Company will be at Amelia Island on March 11 with an ex-Brian Redman/ Bob Snodgrass 1962 Lotus 23B (below, £100140,000) and a racing 1955 Austin-Healey 100S, which has a whopping £375-470,000 estimate.

— BARRETT-JACKSON —
Celebrating its 40th anniversary in some style, Barrett-Jackson sold £43m of hot rods, pre-war classics, muscle cars and contemporary vehicles at Scottsdale. Although racing cars didn’t feature strongly, an ex-Bill Elliott 2000 Ford Taurus NASCAR sold for £25,266.

— BONHAMS —
Some great Bugattis helped raise nearly £8.5m at Bonhams’ Grand Palais sale on February 5 A 1933 Type 51 GP car sold for a remarkable £795,000, a 1930 Type 46 Cabriolet went for £280,500 and a 1930 Type 46 Faux Cabriolet by Veth and Zoom sold at £531,500.

—ARTCURIAL —
Some £6.6m of machinery changed hands in Artcurial’s large sale at the Retromobile show on February 4, with 80 per cent of lots sold. A 1983 Lancia Rallye 037 went for a record-breaking £186,000, a 1937 Bugatti Atalante sold for £486,900 and a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTE was bought by musician Jay Kay for £159,790.

— BRIGHTWELLS —