It's Arizona auction week: let the drama in the desert begin - The Globe and Mail
Over four decades, Bill Martin has driven his Mercedes-Benz 300SL roadster around Nova Scotia’s Cabot Trail, into Baja California, Mexico, and most everywhere in between. It was time to sell, according to auction catalogue account. But not because Martin, 78, is through with driving: rather, he wonders when, not if, collector car prices will tank. A Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spyder sold for $8. 8-million (U. S. ) in RM’s auction last year, a state record. A Ferrari 250 LM race car is estimated at $9. 5-million to $12. 5-million in the current RM roster, and what bid might deliver that car to a new owner. “The market is strong right now,” Martin said in a telephone interview, his car’s catalogue estimate of $950,000-$1. 2-million in line with current 300SL pricing. Six competing Arizona auctions totalled $253,336,167 for 2,381 vehicles last year. Of these, Barrett-Jackson, the biggest show in town, accounted for 1,401 cars, trucks and motorcycles and $110,439,505. In the beginning, Adolf Hitler’s armoured Mercedes-Benz sold for $153,200 in the first auction staged by local collectors Russ... Source: www.theglobeandmail.com
