From the 25th till the 27th of november 2016, Milan.
Not the auction at Monterey (Pebble Beach) or the one during Retromobile in Paris were the auction of the year. The auction of the year for supercars & oldtimers was the Duemila Ruote auction by RM Sotheby’s in Milan! A mind boggling 800 items were auctioned, mostly supercars, oldtimers and racecars but also boats, motorcycles, bicycles, parts, vintage commercial signs and even some vintage bobsleighsleds. Thousand of bidders from across the globe were present in Hall 24 of the huge Fiera Milano complex, they were bidding like there was no tomorrow with some impressive results. The craziest thing about this auction? Everything in the catalogue belonged to one person. Luigi Compiano bought this collection in a recordspeed, but it turned out that it wasn’t all funded by his own money, so the Italian government cracked down on him hard and impounded the collection. Auctionhouse RM Sotheby’s received the green light to auction it all.
Top three amounts were: a very rare Ferrari 275 GTB/6C with aluminium bodywork, this sportscar from 1966 brought in a whopping 3.4 million euro. the second place: a Maserati MC12 from 2004, sold for 3 million euro. The bronze medal goes to another italian supecar: the Ferrari F40, this iconic car sold for over a million euro, which is more than the market value for a not entirely original car.
Some other cars that did really well: the Porsche 959 from 1988 that stranded just a little bit below the F40, his succesor the Porsche Carrera GT was auctioned of for 761.000 euro. The italian built Bugatti EB110 went to a new owner for 616.000 euro, almost double of what RM Sotheby’s thought it was worth.
In the race car department: a 1991 Lancia LC2 (with ferrari engine) brought in the most: 851.000 euro, this car has been seen at the start of of the 24h of Le Mans and other races. The second place is for a factory Lancia Delta HF Integrale Gr.A that European rallychampion Yves Loubet used in the early nineties. it sold for 246.000 euro. In 1990 4-time Indy 500 winner Al Unser Sr. tried to win for a 5th time, but finished 13th with the March-Alfa Romeo 90CA that was auctioned for 95.200 euro.
Even in horrible state some “project cars” managed to get some big numbers! Someon bid 78.400 euro for the remains of something that once was a Alfa Romeo 6C 2500is geweest. Or even crazier someone bought a decaying Maserati Sebring for 106.000 euro. Last and also least: 1680 euro for the Fiat 500 Giardiniera.
Well worth the trip! Text & pictures: Steven, translation: Jonas
