GTR #28R to headline Bonhams auction at the Quail Lodge in Monterey

Compared to what has been said in the past about GTR's generally going for less than road cars, I guess this could be considered a high mark for a GTR.

Is the new owner anyone we know?

I was watching the auction live on the Bonhams page, and according to it the highest bid was indeed 3.3M, but the car wasn't sold?

http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/5883/32474093.png

http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/5601/10821576.png

$3.3m = £2.1m; quite low compared to other GTR's that have been sought for approx £3m....

I was told the car had sold while I was there - people applauded when the hammer fell. Someone with Bonhams suggested the reserve price was under $3M US so it had certainly cleared the hurdle. I'd be a bit surprised to learn it wasn't sold. :dunno:

We recorded a video of the auction process for all to see later. I'll also email my contact at Bonhams and find out what the story is when I have an ounce of free time.

Also keep in mind that $3.3M was the hammer price. You still need to tack on the Buyer's Premium so in the end it was more like $3.7M - and in my opinion (which almost barely matters) that would have been about the right price for this car. I said when the action started that it wasn't going to break $3.5M and I guess it kind of did, but not with the bidding itself.

>8^)
ER

I was told the car had sold while I was there - people applauded when the hammer fell. Someone with Bonhams suggested the reserve price was under $3M US so it had certainly cleared the hurdle. I'd be a bit surprised to learn it wasn't sold. :dunno:

We recorded a video of the auction process for all to see later. I'll also email my contact at Bonhams and find out what the story is when I have an ounce of free time.

Well that sounds more convincingly, furthermore, the whole site crashed soon after that, so probably they had some problems. Its still listed as not sold though :confused:

btw the lot description was amended with this notice:



In its current ownership '028' has been on display in Japan and has seen little use, since arriving in the US the experts at J & L Fabrication have carried out the following: 1. the fuel cell has been purged, the fuel pumps have been tested and fuel lines have been cleared. Fresh race fuel has been added. 2. the car has been driven in the paddock area at Laguna Seca over the last few days and the drive train is fully functional. 3. circuits have been tested and some of the electrical functions such as the wipers, mirrors, dash panel are currently not functional and will require the appropriate attention before use. 4. hydraulics i.e. brakes, clutch functioned properly during the this test.



Lets hope its next owner takes better care of it and drives it a bit more.

$3.3m = £2.1m; quite low compared to other GTR's that have been sought for approx £3m....

Which GTRs in particular are you saying are around 3mm? Longtails or shorttails?

Short-tails, admittedly. Long-tails go for around this price once 'up to scratch', less if they are in need of some TLC.....

Short-tails, admittedly. Long-tails go for around this price once 'up to scratch', less if they are in need of some TLC.....

Gotcha. I'd think 13R and 16R are the ones that are near the 3mm mark since they seem to the be the few shorttails that trade hands more frequently than the rest or are there others? I have been out of the loop on F1 prices for a while...I remember when the two of them were like $1.5mm in Australia or whatever it was, haha.

Edit: Bonham's auction website just says "amended" next to 28R along with several other cars...whatever that means.

Greg,

Which GTR's have gone for the 3m Pounds? Is there any literature on these sales?

None have gone for £3m. That figure has been bandied around for offers to owners to prise it from their grasp. A long tail has gone for less than £1m recently, others around £1.3-£1.8m. Short tails, as they can be made road-worthy, go for more, with road-converted GTR's being able to command an even higher price still. Provenance is everything, so those with good race history go for more still. Imagine a road going #01R :)

That makes sense, being able to convert the short tails gives someone a race car on the road. Similar to what you said about offers that have been tossed around; I heard from a reliable source that someone recently turned down an offer of about $6m dollars for their F1 road car. I never tried to find out more on that, but I could give it a shot.

yep I certainly remember when 11R was going for approx £1.2M, hey ho

This shot clearly shows why no 1997 GTR's have ever been converted for road use, might even have trouble getting it in and out of ones motor house?
I have read several times that no longtail had ever been converted to road use.
I remember seeing a orange longtail with plates, which I believe was previously a "Parabolica" sponsored car?
For my understanding, what makes it difficult to convert the longtail to road use, and what makes the GT be a road car? In other words, why the GT can be on the road while LT GTR cannot?

From GTspirit (http://www.gtspirit.com/2012/08/19/1997-mclaren-f1-gtr-longtail-sells-at-13-million-auction/)
According to our sources, it failed to sell on the auctio n block, however, a deal was reached after the event in which the new owner paid $3.85 million with fees.

edit: I guess this is the source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-18/ford-gt40-sells-for-11-million-auction-record-for-a-u-s-car.html
Scroll down to 'McLaren Racer'

Yeah - I haven't been able to offer an update but I heard a similar story later in the weekend. It was all very strange and at the time I certainly wasn't sure it had sold which was why I asked the people with the car as it came out of the tent. They clearly were not giving me accurate info based on some of the things I was told later on, and based on what the latest news reports say.

I find it hard to believe the Bonhams agents with the car didn't know the real story at the time I was asking them, so I am a bit disappointed they tried to play it off like their efforts on the ramp had been a success.

>8^)
ER

Here's a video from the auction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9FnEzcXNiY
And it looks pretty straightforward - sold for 3.3M, so I wonder what happened afterwards :rolleyes:

I didn't catch it at the time - but you'll note he says "Thank you" but never says "Sold" when the hammer falls. At Gooding they always make it quite clear when a car crossing the block has not sold and the hammer does not fall, but that simply wasn't the case at Bonhams. I wasn't really paying close attention to any of the other cars or bikes they were selling to see whether that was their standard practice or not.

Some will recall a similar amount of confusion occurred when Artcurial had #05R because the hammer fell there too and it wasn't really sold.

>8^)
ER

He didn't say sold, but I thought the actual stroke of the hammer means that the lot is sold. And besides, applause for a non-sold car?

Just saw 05R auction thread, pretty much the same thing, so they probably hammer down every lot, sold or not sold.

My photos of #28R taken in Monterey:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7138/7838174834_ba15bfaa4a_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/peloton25/sets/72157631192510460/)

Was in a hurry to upload these and didn't sort out duplicates. Will clean up the album when I have some free time.

>8^)
ER

Cheers Erik, just uploaded them all :)

What a mess :)

To be sold or not to be sold ; that's the question.

Phil

Another video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcQO_npsbm8

http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/2618/bonhamsquail01pop.jpg

That is nigh on the perfect angle to view a Longtail in that shot.

Looks fantastic.

Hmm, I made a mistake about the word "amended"

It looks like #05R auction when I was told the car was sold after the auction...

For me not sold.

Phil

Erik:

So the #28R did not sold then?
Do you have any information that Orange LP400 Countach, did it sold?
I understood it was on sale this same auction.

Sami,

the Countach was offered by Gooding and it was sold for 660k$

I just saw auctions results and it is terrific :)

The only Orange Countach I saw was at Gooding. I am sure they found a buyer for that car, but I wasn't there to see it go so you will have to refer to their results.

Have not inquired with Bonhams about the status of the GTR yet. Reason being is I'm sure I will hear the same story they have released to the press with no further detail. Still a bit disappointed I didn't get the real story from the other people I was speaking to there on the spot. My hunch was definitely that it had not sold on the stand and I would not have reported bad information here and to the folks at McLaren who I met up with moments later if I had not been told a 'story'. I couldn't ask my contact what had occurred at the time as they were in the middle of their auction still and he was off to the right of the stage working the telephones.

>8^)
ER

Sami,

the Countach was offered by Gooding and it was sold for 660k$

I just saw auctions results and it is terrific :)

do u have a pic by chance

I e-mailed the editor of the article on Bloomberg (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-18/ford-gt40-sells-for-11-million-auction-record-for-a-u-s-car.html) in which the sold price was first mentioned. He did confirm that the price was given to him by a Bonhams publicity person. The car failed to sell in the auction and it was sold shortly after via a private transaction for $3.85M with fees. Rather interesting that price is not mentioned in the official press release, but its included in the total.

Some pics here [clickable]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v245/hurstg01/aa7b861a73.jpg (http://www.finecars.cc/en/detail/car/184333/index.html?no_cache=1&ret=20&request%5Bfilter%5D%5Boffset%5D=0&request%5Bfilter%5D%5Browcount%5D=6&request%5Bfilter%5D%5Border%5D=tstamp&request%5Bfilter%5D%5Bdesc%5D=desc&request%5Bfilter%5D%5Bdealer%5D=4091)

and one off Simon Kidstons FB page

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v245/hurstg01/599493_416361241755121_629143084_n.jpg (http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.416360335088545.97100.131382396919675&type=1)

Sami,

the Countach was offered by Gooding and it was sold for 660k$

I just saw auctions results and it is terrific :)

Oh my.... I think there is around 10 this colored Countach's made, Don't know how many is LP400's.
But the car must have been stunning condition.

Heard some rumours that #28R were sold after auction?
Is this true? :uhoh: