Arizona Auction Week 2017 Wrap-Up

After spending some time studying my new Hammer Price app (a must-have) and going through some of my auction notes for the week, I have come to some of the same conclusions I did last year—some marques did well, and others lost a little ground in value. it also seemed like the general attendance for the whole week was up, starting with the Arizona Concours d’Elegance. Too bad the weather didn’t cooperate.

The Italians continue to march forward, although mostly in the “affordable” models. Really nice Ferrari 308s have moved into six -figure territory, with a slightly flawed but nonetheless lovely 1958 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider Veloce bringing stellar money at $160,000+, and a 1974 Alfa Romeo GTV hammering at $76,000+ at Bonham’s.

Overall, the whole Austin Healey market is down about 20% from highs of a few years ago. Even a fabled 100S—one of fifty—was well-bought at a bargain price of $490,000. I heard people tell of it’s flaws but I reminded them that, “It’s still a real 100S!” Only the really nice cars sold well with the so-so cars at street sales rates.

Except for the $6.7 million spent for the Lightweight, the Jaguar market has cooled a bit on the E Types. A really nice late Series 1 4.2  did sell for $160,000+ which isn’t too shabby, though. There were just a lot of E Types available, and it is a hot brand and model. I still predict the Series 2 cars will start filling up the demand for E Types overall in the next few years.

Trending up (still,) the air-cooled Porsches are the cars to have. Some lovely 356 Speedsters held their own, and a really nice 912—but still a 912—fetched $105,000 at Gooding on Saturday. Another 356 barn-find bewildered even the most faithful at $341,000. After $600,000 plus for a Speedster barn find in Hilton Head, I’m left smiling to myself.

In talking with Andy Reid and other auction watchers, the cars that came up slowly and steadily—like the Aston Martins—held their own. The rising prices on cars like the Sunbeam Tigers have steadied, and again, only the nice cars held their values. There was also a lot of talk also about money availability and people not wanting to touch other investments with a stock market and Dow that is surging towards 20,000.

I think I may have to attend the March Amelia Island event to continue my research and see if the trends continue. Poor, poor pitiful me.

Top image credit: Andy Reid – ClassicCars.com

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