All eyes were on Germany as the bulk of RM Sotheby’s Youngtimer collection went under the hammer.
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All of the Youngtimer cars were no reserve, as part of a 354-strong lot list, and the ultra-rare stuff did well – an AMG 560 SEC C126 went for £17,300 more than its £103,821 upper estimate, while a 5.0-litre AMG W123 Estate went for £124,369 against a £60,562 upper estimate. It wasn’t just AMGs – an Alpina B12 6.0 (E38) sold for £45,854 against a £34,607 upper estimate.
But these are all double-digit production number cars – there were lots of low-mileage, more mainstream cars and these were landing a good way off the lower estimate. We saw a 6.0-litre Jaguar XJS go for less than £10k, and Bentley Turbo Rs squeeze out under the gavel for a lot less than estimated.
So what’s going on? Taking place at Techno Classica Essen, the largest classic car show in the world, meant there was already plenty of choice in surrounding halls. Germans are also much more reserved when bidding, and with so many very similar cars in one place, there was perhaps more supply than demand. Some got bargains – an Alpina B7 Turbo S/3 went for £77,866 against a £121,125 upper estimate. It wasn’t all bad news for RM – a Lancia 037 smashed its £346,000 upper estimate to £588,324. The next lot, a Lancia Delta S4 Stradale, estimated at £475,850 sold for £795,967.
