Porsche Type 64 auction fail at Monterey

By: Alex Affat, Unique Cars magazine

Date: 19.08.2019

Thirty million? Or was that thirteen million…?

A mix-up at auction saw the Type 64 fail to sell.

What was meant to be one of the highlights of RM Sotheby's esteemed Monterey Car Week auction, ended up being embarrassingly axed on the auction floor in part due to a peculiar bungle that stopped bidding dead in its tracks.

Ferry Porsche's 1934 Type 64 was the sole survivor of just three incredibly rare sports car prototypes built by the Porsche family, deemed as the missing link between Volkswagen and Porsche.

It was one of the most publicised cars coming to auction, with RM Sotheby's pre-auction estimate predicting the oldest Porsche in the world to reach up to USD$20 million.

Bloomberg reports, however, that the auctioneer opened the bid at a shocking USD$30 million, drawing cheers from half of the room, and laughter from the other.

Bidding quickly reached an absolutely eye-watering USD$70 million amidst the hype and excitement. It looked set to be something historic, with the top bid nearing the recently crowned most expensive collector car in the world; the original Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost which was recently sold for a purported USD$75 million.

But moments later, despite the high bid of USD$70 million displayed on the monitor screens overhead the auctioneer corrected himself, stating that the opening bid was in fact, $13 million, with a high bid of $17 million.

The room was unsure if the correction was a genuine mistake, or an elaborate joke to drum up more excitement, either way  there were no further bids, and the auction was ended a few minutes later.

RM Sothebys stated to Jalopnik: "As bidding opened on the Type 64, increments were mistakenly overheard and displayed on the screen, causing unfortunate confusion in the room.

"This was in no way a joke or prank on behalf of anyone at RM Sotheby's, rather an unfortunate misunderstanding amplified by excitement in the room. The auction was not canceled. The car reached a high bid of $17 million."

Apparently that wasnt enough to reach reserve.

We had predicted the Type 64 to be one of the highest-achieving lots amongst the entire Car Week calendar, however the unfortunate snafu seems to have given the highly-publicised piece of history an ignominious end.

Making the situation worse is there are now doubts creeping in regarding the cars value. Porsche has publicly remained at arms length from the car, which predates production of the iconic 356 and its 911 successors by a considerable period

Stay tuned for more collector news from Car Week at TradeUniqueCars.com.au

Unique Cars magazine Value Guides

Sell your car for free right here