Duemila Ruote (2000 Wheels) Auction, Italy

By: Andy Enright

Date: 29.11.2016

2004 Maserati M12

1966 Ferrari 255 GTB

2004 Maserati M12

1966 Ferrari 255 GTB

Vast classic collection sparks feeding frenzy amongst bidders

How do you organise the sale of one guy’s collection of 423 classic cars? It takes some doing. It’s a solid thirty hours of auctioneering, which also included 155 lots of motor bikes, 1400 bicycles and 55 boats. Let’s just say that someone had a bit of a hoarding problem.  Fully 21 days were spent cataloguing the items, by nine people  from four countries. The lots filled eleven warehouses and were auctioned in premises covering 200,000 feet of exhibition space. 

Bidders from 57 countries tried for a slice of the action, and RM Sothebys had over 25,000 catalogues printed. Nearly 100 trucks shipped the cars from Venice to Milan for the sale where over 5000 people were attending live, the final sum raised totalling €51.26 million (A$72.66m). It was, by any standards, a mammoth undertaking. Top sales? This little list, with quite a few ‘youngtimers’ realising some serious money.

Sothebys ought to be applauded for cranking up the pre-event hype to the rafters. An example of the nature of the bidding? Consider this. If you were coming in at the more affordable end of the scale, this race-prepped 1974 Beta Coupé 1800 might have looked a tempting target. With a pre-event estimate of €7,000, it looked to offer decent value, but the hammer fell with the car reaching €56,000, eight times estimate.

Staying on the Lancia theme 1968 Competizione version of the Fulvia Sport Zagato 1.3 demolished its €20,000-30,000 estimate to fetch €162,400.

A manual Ferrari 599 is rare but hardly a landmark car, yet this example fetched  €537,600. Much like the Baillon Collection last year, many of the lots were in less than stellar condition, but it seems as if auction fever set in hard at this sale.

Bargain of the night? That’s a tough one. As far as bang for your buck goes, it was hard to top the massive the 1984 CUV Lamborghini #1 Offshore Class 1 ‘Miura’, powered by two giant Lamborghini V-12s that sold for €117,000. 

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