The headline for this story could have featured all manner of amazing results from RM Auctions' Monaco sale on Saturday. As well as the above
911
, there was a Lancia Flaminia Sport that made 571,200 euros (£465,528), a 728,000-euro (£593,320) Toyota 2000GT and a Mercedes 300SL AMG Gullwing that sold at 812,000 euros (£661,780).
The auction's cheapest car, at 17K euros
But with air-cooled 911 values seemingly without a price ceiling at present, some further investigation seemed appropriate. Speaking to Neil at
The Hairpin Company
, who actually saw the RM 911 RS, reveals the insatiable demand for 911s. He was "not at all surprised" at the money made by the three-owner car given its exceptional condition. And why are they commanding so much? Usability. "You could have bought that 911 and driven it home without thinking too much of it," says Neil, "which you couldn't have with many of the other exotics in the auction." Indeed, such is the market appetite for special 911s that cars are being sold at Hairpin without advertising. Following the climb in Ferrari and Aston values, Neil believes Porsche is experiencing a similar resurgence. Dealers are clamouring to get the right cars apparently...
The last Apera made and now a £565K car
An interesting pair of modern Ferraris were sold at Monaco too with very different final prices. A
599 GTO
made 358,400 euros (£292,096), a car that was £305,676 new in 2012. A mechanically similar but even rarer
SA Aperta
(80 cars made against GTO) made a staggering 694,400 (£565,936) euros , compared to £360,000 new. Still, that seems almost affordable for an open V12 Ferrari when a
330 GTS
made over 2 million euros.
The full catalogue of results is here but it certainly appears that values are still strong for the right classic cars. Following the $52m 250 GTO last year, it was suggested the classic car bubble may not last much longer. Saturday's lots raised a total of 41 million euros though, with very few unsold cars, so it seems there's still demand for now.
There was some PH interest in Saturday's sale too as we've recently featured a few of the cars being sold. The De Tomaso Pantera Keith was lusting over recently actually sold in the lower end of its estimate at 56,000 euros (£45,640), actually one of the more affordable lots from the sale. Its Mangusta brother that starred as POTW made 268,800 euros (£219,072), exactly the same as the 911 RS. The next sale is Motor City in July; there are already a few lots listed...