Florida in March is a good bit nicer than most of the rest of the country. Temperatures can reach the mid eighties, spring has sprung, and there are exciting vintage cars everywhere. Well, on Amelia Island, at least, that’s true. Both the Concours and the classic car auctions continue to grow in size and stature, and it’s all the better for enthusiasts like us. We get to see some amazing cars displayed on well groomed lawns, and we get to see incredible Porsche cross the various auction blocks of the weekend. Four auction houses brought a lot of interesting Porsche lots up for bidding this year, and many of them sold very well. Here are all the 2015 Porsche Amelia Island auction results for your enjoyment.
Sotheby’s RM Auctions
This might be a record, because for as long as I can remember, I’ve never seen a major auction sell every single one of their Porsche lots that crossed the dais. Not only that, but every single one of them was deemed to be a six-figure car. With nine cars garnering almost $3 million dollars in sales, the Porsche contingent was hot in Florida last week at the RM sale.
We had a ‘man on the street’ reporter at Amelia Island this year, and he commented that he thought the 911 Carrera RS 2.7 didn’t look like the nicest restoration he’d ever seen. It’s a pretty car, but there were details perhaps left undone. That could be why it wasn’t quite worth a million dollars to the bidders present.
The 75 Carrera 2.7 MFI has long been known as the ‘poor man’s carrera’, but now you have to be a rich man to own one. The one at Bonhams went for a bit less, but you have to have at least a quarter of a million dollars to spend these days to enjoy one.
Total Porsches Sold: 9
Total Porsche Dollar Value: $2,821,000
Lot 115 – 1989 Porsche 911 Speedster: $264,000
Lot 119 – 1979 Porsche 911 Turbo: $253,000
Lot 121 – 1971 Porsche 911S 2.2 Coupe: $159,000
Lot 144 – 1975 Porsche 911 Carrera 2.7 European MFI model: $308,000
Lot 150 – 1988 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet “Slant Nose”: $363,000
Lot 168 – 1958 Porsche 356A Speedster: $253,000
Lot 182 – 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7 Touring: $891,000
Lot 194 – 1987 Porsche 911 Turbo “930”: $220,000
Lot 199 – 1971 Porsche 911T 2.2 Coupe: $110,000
Bonhams
Being a bit more conservative with their Porsche offerings, Bonhams only brought five P-cars to Amelia. The fact that this was their first auction in the Amelia arena, it doesn’t really strike me as surprising that they didn’t bring a big ticket car to this sale. This is their toe-in-the-water test so to speak.
With just the single soft-window targa no-sale lot, Bonhams had nearly as impressive a sales record as RM did. I was a bit surprised that they decided to bring a relatively bog-standard 3.2 liter Cabriolet to sale, and the $37,400 price they got for it seems like absolutely top dollar for that car to me. There might come a day when we look back on that price and admire how low it was, though.
Total Porsches Sold: 4
Total Porsche Dollar Value: $684,000
Lot 107 – 1988 Porsche 911 Carrera 3.2 Cabriolet: $37,400
Lot 121 – 1960 Porsche 356B 1600 Cabriolet: $167,000
Lot 123 – 1975 Porsche 911 Carrera 2.7 European MFI model: $269,500
Lot 146 – 1968 Porsche 911L Soft Window Targa: No Sale
Lot 150 – 1997 Porsche 911 “993” Turbo: $210,100
Gooding and Co.
Where Bonhams was conservative, Gooding and Co. went all out when selecting their Porsche lots. They had some extreme rarities, some amazingly clean blue-chip investment grade cars, and even a “barn find” and a race car. Their eclectic Porsche selections seem to have paid off, as they brought in 17 sales (one no-sale Carrera RS lightweight. Had it sold it could easily have put them over $8 million dollar mark in Porsche sales).
Lets start with that race car, shall we? The 74 Carrera RSR is a very rare piece, and with the beautiful red/white/yellow vintage livery, it certainly looks amazing as well. It belongs in a collection with someone who will make good use of it. I really hope whoever purchased this car will bring it out for the Rennsport Reunion this fall, as I’d really like the opportunity to drool over it in person.
The surprise for me is the “barn find” 356. There seems to be a theme of people paying more for a barn find car than they would for a perfectly restored car, or even an all original survivor, and that doesn’t make much sense to me. In this case, a 1959 356A Coupe, a car that would have trouble getting to $100,000 on the bidding block if it were perfect, managed to bring another $40K over that. So in some ways, the new owner has overpaid for the opportunity to overpay for a quality restoration. This car could easily have upwards of $200 thousand invested before it’s even show worthy. Can anyone help me make sense of it?
Total Porsches Sold: 17
Total Porsche Dollar Value: $5,966,950
Lot 004 – 1963 Porsche 356B Super Coupe: $95,700
Lot 006 – 1957 Porsche 356A Speedster: $352,000
Lot 012 – 1997 Porsche 911 “993” Turbo S: $440,000
Lot 014 – 1973 Porsche 911S 2.4 Coupe: $275,000
Lot 017 – 1965 Porsche 911 Coupe: $266,750
Lot 026 – 1972 Porsche 911T 2.4 Coupe: $115,500
Lot 033 – 1965 Porsche 356C Coupe: $110,000
Lot 035 – 1974 Porsche 911 Carrera 3.0 RSR: $1,237,500
Lot 039 – 1994 Porsche 911 “964” Turbo 3.6: $330,000
Lot 041 – 1955 Porsche 356 Continental Cabriolet: $313,500
Lot 043 – 1973 Porsche 911S 2.4 Coupe: $156,750
Lot 052 – 1996 Porsche 911 “993” GT2: $973,500
Lot 060 – 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera 2.7 RS Lightweight: No Sale
Lot 070 – 1975 Porsche 911 Carrera 3.0 RS: $605,000
Lot 075 – 1961 Porsche 356B Super Coupe: $126,500
Lot 081 – 1972 Porsche 911S 2.4 Coupe: $209,000
Lot 083 – 1959 Porsche 356A Coupe “Barn Find”: $140,250
Lot 086 – 1989 Porsche 911 Speedster: $220,000
Hollywood Wheels
Hollywood Wheels has not yet released their auction final gavel prices. We have reached out to them for their results, but have not heard back yet. In the mean time, we have some unofficial results that were posted on the Early 911 S Registry. Those prices are listed below. As soon as we have Hollywood Wheels’ realized prices, we’ll be sure to bring them to you in a later update.
Total Porsches Sold: TBA
Total Porsche Dollar Value: TBA
Lot 101 – cancelled
Lot 102 – cancelled
Lot 103 – 2002 GT2 – $87, no sale (NS)
Lot 104 – ’83 930 – $52 NS
Lot 105 – ’63 356B – $122 NS but later reported that a deal was reached….
Lot 106 – ’79 930 – $100 NS
Lot 107 – ’88 930 – $87 NS
Lot 108 – ’84 fake 73 RS – $67.5 NS
Lot 109 – ’67 targa – $135 NS
Lot 110 – ’79 911 Turbo -$105 NS
Lot 111 – ’66 911 barn find – $180 NS
Lot 112 – cancelled
Lot 113 – ’75 Carrera – $50 NS
Lot 114 – ’58 356A Speedster – $245 NS
Lot 115 – ’63 356B – $71 SOLD (first “sale” on the block)
Lot 116 – ’97 911 C2S – $117.5 NS
Lot 117 – ’94 Speedster – $157.5 NS
Lot 118 – ’05 997S – $44 SOLD
Lot 119 – ’03 GT2 – $71 SOLD (this was first and only NO RESERVE car of auction)
Lot 120 – Porsche 936 Junior Kart – $14.5 SOLD
Lot 121 – ’61 tractor – $28 NS
Lot 122 – ’69 E – $61 NS
Lot 123 – ’70 914-6 GT – $140 NS
Lot 124 – ’58 356A coupe – $147.5 NS
Lot 125 – ’61 356 T5 B Cab – $140 NS
Lot 126 – ’71 S – $160 NS
Lot 127 – 69 E Targa – $110 NS
Lot 128 – cancelled
Lot 129 – ’70 T – $100 NS
Lot 130 – ’70 S – $150 NS
Lot 131 -’57 tractor – $8 NS
Lot 132 – ’69 S – $197.5 SOLD
Lot 133 – ’66 couple – $385 NS
Lot 134 – ’73 S Gregg – $395 NS
Lot 135 – PAIR of ’53 356’s – $685 SOLD
Lot 136 – ’53 356 – $275 SOLD
Lot 137 – ’58 356A 1600S cab – $180 NS
Lot 138 – ’67 S sunroof – $175 NS
Our source zoned out and stopped recording after this except for this one:
Lot 141 – ’67 911 – $102.5 SOLD
There were about 10 more cars, mostly race cars, after this but our source left.