Is this the biggest Classic Auction blunder ever?

[The Moose]

If you listen to theta video, he clearly says ...ty on the build up to 70. What a cluster!

[RDMcG]

Luke. said:

That lettering looks like something out of Halfords.

The auction car was not much better so the repro was faithful:

[Mercury00]

MrGTI6 said:

As much as I like a good conspiracy, I don't think this is true, and I genuinely believe the person operating the screen misheard the auctioneer, although he wasn't speaking clearly at all. He was obviously going up in $500,000 increments.

In other words, it should have gone:
$15,000,000
$15,500,000 (+$500,000)
$16,000,000 (+$500,000)
$16,500,000 (+$500,000)
$17,000,000 (+$500,000)

Not like this:
$50,000,000
$50,500,000 (+$500,000)
$60,000,000 (+$9,500,000)
$60,500,000 (+$500,000)
$70,000,000 (+$9,500,000)

Exactly what I was thinking. If you listen to the video closely you can hear he's saying fifteen rather than fifty.

[RDMcG]

I do not believe there is any conspiracy, but I would suggest that an auctioneer should have impeccable diction, especially in a widely publicized auction like this one.

[Second Best]

Sometimes people get mixed up between 17 and 70 - oh whoops, I'm in parking bay 70, not 17. You would imagine an auctioneer, who's role primarily consists of saying numbers accurately, would be able to accurate distinguish between the two. Even when he cacked himself and started repeating the auction over and over and over and over and over and over, I still heard "seventy" every now and then, even though I knew I was listening for seventeen.

I suspect tomorrow this guy will be given his P45 and there will be a lot of very angry Porsche fanatics who missed out on a £17,000,000 or £70,000,000 Nazi car.

Hi external mods! That's what the car is called. Check for yourself.

[JxJ Jr.]

Cheib said:

JxJ Jr. said:

Cheib said:

Away from that there have been some lots going through a LOT lower than estimate!

It's been a bit of a torrid week though, financially - most markets spent most of the week going down, bond yields turning negative, ongoing political risk in HK, talk of recession.....Not necessarily a great time to be thinking of splashing out.

I don’t think thie soft tone to the auctions has got much to do with the last week...market has been slipping for a while. Some cars have sold at 50% of estimate .

Oh I agree it's been soft/slipping for a while, but I think this weekend in particular has been telling given the top end cars (F1, this Porsche, 250 GT SWB I think?) and it's difficult to say that things like this https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-05... (ok, week before rather than last) is not going to have some impact and see some sitting on the sidelines or bidding more conservatively.

[JxJ Jr.]

RDMcG said:

I wonder if this car will come up for auction again any time soon. My guess is that they will try for a private deal.

Yep, but with the addition of RM being sued. I'd say at this kind of level you don't tend to see cars being re-entered for a few years if they don't sell.

[Masiv]

RDMcG said:

I do not believe there is any conspiracy, but I would suggest that an auctioneer should have impeccable diction, especially in a widely publicized auction like this one.

I just watched the video and when the mistake is realised he says 'Perhaps it's my pronounciation?' As well as learning to speak more clearly, he should also realise that he should have said 'pronunciation'.

Oh the irony!

[Dave Hedgehog]

FourWheelDrift said:

Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WldajqzUMc

What a cock up

[will_]

Shuvi McTupya said:

Worst auctioneer i have ever seen. Surely a decent auctioneer would have something more interesting to say than just keep repeating 17million dollars a hundred times.

I assume it didnt hit its reserve if they were expecting 50+million out of it?

Generally speaking if a car sells at auction the auctioneer will read out the paddle number of the winning bidder - the auction is recorded in case of later disputes about what the bids were or who bought the car.

If an auctioneer drops the hammer without then reading out a paddle number it's likely to mean that the car didn't sell.

All seemed a bit desperate from the auctioneer!

[Fonzey]

Please stop saying 17million

[PorkInsider]

Why is he saying "seven tin-million" instead of "seventeen million"?

Of course it's going to sound like "seventy".

[RDMcG]

This car will now have a permanent addition to its history.

[FourWheelDrift]

RDMcG said:

This car will now have a permanent addition to its history.

It might put it's price up.

[Roo]

Bit of a car crash auction.

[J4CKO]

That is pretty gopping, looks like a "Porsche" in a Wallace and Gromit film.

[corozin]

Feel bound to say it's a bit of a first world problem isn't it?

[Davey S2]

I've watched it several times and to me the auctioneer clearly says 'sixty' and 'seventy' rather than 'sixteen' or 'seventeen'.

Can't blame whoever was in charge of the display screen for putting up the wrong figure.

[PorkInsider]

Had to watch the YT clip again for a chuckle.

Clear as day he's saying 'fifty' million at 14 seconds in. I mean obviously it's not what he meant, but it's what came out of his mouth.

https://youtu.be/9WldajqzUMc

What an absolute 'tard.

[Unsorted]

Cheib said:

I don’t think thie soft tone to the auctions has got much to do with the last week...market has been slipping for a while. Some cars have sold at 50% of estimate .

This guy has put out some interesting stuff over the last few days on his Twitter timeline

https://twitter.com/torquespeak/status/11626351719...
https://twitter.com/torquespeak/status/11626951963...

Thanks for posting and credit to Ed Callow @torquespeak for Tweets.

Wonder if the (pretty shocking) results below a one off or the signs of a price reset to lower levels. If from Nick Mee (what someone said, I have no idea if the case) he knows the market better than most. Guess all will be revealed as further auction results are posted.