Tahoe is Walking On: A(nother) Peak in Classic Car Valuations? (Autoblog)

Monday, August 22, 2011

A(nother) Peak in Classic Car Valuations? (Autoblog)

I was involved in the exotic car business from 1985 to 1987. A period that was by many descriptors, a bubble like period. I have continued to follow the latest auction results, and the last Pebble Beach and Monterey auctions provided PLENTY of entertainment with excited bidding and record prices. As always, Autoblog.com does a fabulous job of presenting the latest record, and for one of my absolute fabulous cars, a pristine 1957 Ferrari 250TR, a truly special car being an Original Proto and First Car manufactured, Classiche Certified, Historian Documented, the list goes on, and on. The interested Buyers for this piece of Automotice Art, and Purveyor of Mechanical Symphony had many reasons to take this to a frantic level.

But has this hype possibly gone too far, with free cash flowing like water from Central Banks and Public Governments? Will the anticipated (by some) revaluation of asset classes across the board touch this ultra-wealthy segment too? Only time will tell. Watching and Learning.

1957 Ferrari 250 TR Prototype sells for record $16.39 million U.S. at Gooding's Pebble Beach auction

by Drew Phillips, Autoblog (RSS feed) on Aug 22nd, 2011 at 1:30PM

1957 Ferrari 250 TR Prototype at Gooding

Prices for vintage Ferraris have escalated the last few years, with the more expensive models breaking records for the price of a car sold at auction. A 1961 Ferrari California Spyder sold for more than $10 million U.S. in 2008, and a 1957 Ferrari 250 TR went for more than $12 million U.S. in 2009. When auction house Gooding announced that it would be selling the recently restored 1957 Ferrari 250 TR prototype at this past weekend's Pebble Beach sale, we had a feeling that the record would be broken once again.

Our hunch was correct, as a final bid of $14.9 million U.S. was offered for the car at Friday night's auction. Taking into account Gooding's ten percent selling fee, the final price rang in at an astounding $16.39 million U.S.

In addition to the 250 TR, Gooding sold six additional cars over the U.S. million dollar mark including a 1959 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California ($3.355 million), a 1963 Shelby Cobra 289 Factory Team Car ($2.285 million) and a 1953 Ferrari 375 Vignale Coupe ($2.2 million). You can read more about the record-breaking auction in Gooding's press release after the jump.