Luxury prevails as Duesenberg and Bentley top Amelia Island sales

Auctions
 | 11 Mar 2013

The best of British and American luxury topped RM and Gooding’s Amelia Island sales on 8-9 March.

RM’s 1935 Duesenberg Model SJ Convertible Coupe by Walker-LaGrande topped the list selling for a massive $4,510,000.

That was followed by Gooding’s 1928 Bentley 4 ½ Litre Semi-Le Mans Tourer, which made $2.75 million as 97% of the auction house’s lots found new homes.

The Santa-Monica-based company also took the next top sale with an Alloy 1966 Ferrari 275 GTB Long Nose earning $2.365million, but it was a Rolls-Royce that caused the biggest surprise. The 1929 Phantom I Derby Speedster bagged $1,980,000 – a world auction record for the model – and more than double the pre-sale estimate.

Fourth-placed sale went to a Fiat 8V Supersonic, which Gooding sold in support of St Jude’s hospital, it made $1,760,000 while a Ferrari 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 took $1,650,000.

There was plenty $1million-plus lots for RM, too, including a 1933 Stutz DV32 Convertible Victoria by Rollston ($1,512,500), a 1965 Ferrari 275 GTB ($1,375,000), a 1911 Lozier Model 51 Seven-Passenger Touring ($1,100,000) and a 1952 Ferrari 225 Sport Berlinetta that made a huge $1,237,500.

A 1930 Cord L-29 Sport Cabriolet by Voll & Ruhrbeck ($990,000) concluded the top ten list for RM, although there were prominent lots left without new owners.

They included a 1939 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 with a top bid of $900k, a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL (which stopped at $910k), a 1948 Tucker 48 (topping out at $1,475,000) and a 1970 Porsche 908/3, which couldn’t surpass $1.3milion. A 1954 Pegaso that bid up to $700k was another example of high-end metal left on the shelf, failing to sell with bids unable to clear $700k.

Sealing the big sales for Gooding were modern supercars in the form of a 1995 Ferrari F50 ($1,375,000) and a 2006 Bugatti Veyron ($924,000), plus three more classic Maranello machines – a 1967 275 GTB/4 ($1,650,000), a 1966 275 GTS ($1,127,500) and a 1969 365 GTC ($1,072,500). The latter was probably the best example of the breed as the last 365 ever built; it had only 22,000km on the clock and remained completely original.

Finally a 1965 Shelby 289 Cobra made $852,500 helping secure a princely sales total of $28,163,500 for Gooding.