Big dollar cars don't meet reserves at RM's Arizona auction
Click above for high-res gallery of expensive cars that didn't sell at the RM auction
Across town from Barrett-Jackson at the Bitmore Resort, RM Auctions held its "Automobiles of Arizona" auction highlighted by several multi-million dollar cars including a one-of-five 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport and a past Pebble Beach winner 1937 Bugatti 57SC Atalante Coupe (much like the one that was recently found in a barn). Unfortunately, neither car saw a bid that met the reserve price, perhaps an indication that current economic conditions are finally catching up with the high-end collector car market. The Grand Sport went unsold with a top bid of $5 million, and the Bugatti failed to meet its reserve with a high bid of $4.4 million. A 1958 Ferrari 250 GT Tour de France also went unsold with a top bid of $1.8 million. One notable car that did find a new owner was the 1954 Dodge Firearrow III Concept with the hammer falling at $800,000 before auction fees. There were plenty of other beautiful cars that did sell, and you can check out the full list at RM's web site.
Photos copyright ©2009 Drew Phillips / Weblogs, Inc.
Corvette Grand Sport photos courtesy Dan Vaughan, ConceptCarz.com
_opt_thumbnail.jpg)
_thumbnail.jpg "2011 Audi A8: Live from Miami")
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
CEMan 8:05AM (1/17/2009)
Let me get this right,
someone was willing to spend 5 million on the Vette and 4.4 million on the Bug and the owners said no?
That's just plain silly folks. They are CARS. Even if they are really nice, they are CARS.
"Go on, take the money and run..."
Reply
BLS 8:36AM (1/17/2009)
Things that aren't worth 5 million dollars...
pretty sure chopped Corvette is on that list.
Reply
754boy 8:55AM (1/17/2009)
I'm with CEMan on this, I would have taken that money and ran so fast out the door!!!
Reply
MajorGeek 10:41AM (1/17/2009)
Barret Jackson is the place to go to get overpaid for your cars, what were they thinking? Ive literally spent hours yelling at my TV the last few days. If it wasn't a 60" TV, I would have thrown a beer through it by now ;) Quite a few decent deals the first couple of days, must be the uber rich come in for the last couple of days to overpay. Today will be fun to watch, wonder what the first Camaro will go for.
Reply
Travis 11:21AM (1/17/2009)
Beanie babies, houses, classic cars, internet stocks, all things that are only worth what people are willing to pay. The difference is a house has intrinsic value, whereas the others are simply bubbles, with people thinking that their value will continue to go up just because it always has. Welcome to the new reality... maybe I'll be able to pick up a nice condition muscle car in a couple years for a reasonable price.
Reply