Broad Arrow grosses $15.2m at latest all-Porsche sale

With new British auctioneer Thomas Forrester at the rostrum in Costa Mesa last Saturday, the Hagerty-owned company turned in a solid performance to sell seven out of ten cars offered in a 56-lot catalogue. Every entry was a Porsche (with a single RUF). The auction was held in conjunction with ‘Air|Water’ and ‘Luftgekühlt’ and was very well attended: 11,000 people in the venue.

Forrester is no stranger to US classic car auctions: another regular of British TV antiques programmes, he stood in for Charlie Ross at Gooding in August 2022 when the California company’s talismanic auctioneer was unable to travel to Pebble Beach.

Bidding on the ex-works 1969 Porsche 908.02 ‘Flunder’ Langheck, er… ‘floundered’ around the $4.2m mark in the room. The car had been bought at Bonhams’ December 2014 Bond St auction out of a notable collection for £2,185,500 with premium then comprehensively restored in the US 2018-2020 at great cost. Always hard to value, another genuine bid should have won a car of historical significance. There is a school of thought that these competition cars are best presented by specialist dealers… and you can imagine who promotes this theory.

At a glance:
 
* Gross, motor cars: $15,141,440
* Percentage sold by number, motor cars: 68%
* Top-selling car: 2015 Porsche 918 Spyder Weissach $2,865,000 gross, $2,600,000 net (est. $2.7m to $3.2m)

While the top-selling Porsche 918 went just under lower estimate, the third-place 2005 Carrera GT beat its upper guide, the single-owner car going for $1,792,500. Put in at $1.4m to $1.6m, it was the sole car to outperform its estimate.

In between sits the red, German market 1988 959 Komfort with some Canepa mods that was bought for $1,930,000. Non-sellers on the night included: the 1976 934 Turbo RSR, a car with mixed history of a type less fancied at auction today and a 1992 911 (964) Carrera RS with tuned 3.8-litre engine, roll-cage, 60,000km recorded and special exhaust. By way of comparison, the standard 1993 911 RS America – a ‘cosmetic’ 964 RS for the USA – went for $302,000. Est $240k to $280k. The RUF BTR Twin (completed out of period) was post-saled for $1,150,000.

For racers, surely the buy of the event was the 1986 962 IMSA GTP run by Dyson Racing for $775,000.

All prices gross.

As a snapshot of the North American Porsche market, what do the results tell us? Mainly, the packed event shows the popularity of the marque and its best-known model. Prices on the older cars were only ‘okay’ for average entries. Perhaps the appetite for more modern, limited-edition 911s is softening and, as always, cars with some sort of a story are hard to sell at any price.

Broad Arrow ‘The Porsche Auction in Partnership with Air|Water’, 27 April 2024 – results

Total gross cars: $15,141,440
Number of cars not sold: 18
Number of cars withdrawn: 1
Total number of cars: 56
Number sold: 38
Percentage cars sold by number: 68%
Percentage by value average low/high estimate: 48%
Percentage of cars sold below low estimate: 63%
Percentage of cars sold not met avge of estimates: 79%
Percentage of cars sold met/exceeded top estimate: 3%
Average value of cars sold: $398,459
Average year of cars offered: 1988
Percentage of cars offered at No Reserve: 23%

Photos by Broad Arrow/Robin Adams