Although several of the most heavily promoted lots failed to shift – notably the headlining Jaguar D-type from the Irvine Laidlaw collection that was bid to £4million – RM amassed more than £21million from 120 cars over its two-day sale in London this week.
With the first day dedicated to a massive European collection of Mercedes and the second focused on the Laidlaw collection as well as the well-publicised Lotus Esprit submersible 'Wet Nellie' from Bond flick The Spy Who Loved Me, the Canadian auction house recorded an impressive sale rate of over 90%.
Despite a huge estimate of £650-950,000, the £616,000 the Lotus made including commission and fees, still seemed enormous.
The top-seller, though, did come from the Laidlaw Collection and was the ex-Carroll Shelby and Jim Hall 1957 Maserati 250S that accrued £2.128million (main image). The second highest-priced car – some way behind at £1.646million – was a 1967 Ferrari 275GTB/4.
Third highest, and second-best of the Laidlaw cars, was the 1965 Porsche 904/6 Carrera GTS at £1,232,000.
Best of the 74 Mercedes, which raised closed to £10million on their own, was a 1938 540K Cabriolet B that sold for £820,000, some £50k ahead of a 1932 15/75 HO Mannheim 370S Sport Roadster and, a little further back, a 1956 300SL Coupé and 1961 300SL Roadster.
Both in the Mercedes sale and the following day's action, there were some bargains to be had… if you can consider just over £300,000 for a Ferrari F40 or under £40k for a Testarossa bargains, that is.
It wasn't alll about big bucks, however: you could also have snapped up a 1948 MG TC for £17k or an Austin Seven Ruby saloon for under £5k.
The top 10 results were:
