Adolfo Orsi and Raffaele Gazzi's book on the previous auction year is always eagerly awaited. Traditionally, the "Classic Car Auction Yearbook" runs from September 1 to August 31, which means that the Pebble Beach auctions are included, but not later auctions in the year.
This choice of period was disastrous for the previous auction year 2019-2020, and the recovery in the 2020-2021 period was correspondingly clear, as the auctions surrounding the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elégance took place again in the current year. However, this is not the only reason why Orsi and Gazzi, who is stepping down with this issue, are able to paint a rather rosy picture of market developments.
No car on the cover
For the first time, it is not the most expensive car of the year that is featured on the cover of the book, but a person. The person in question is Robert Brooks, who died in 2021. Brooks was not only a car enthusiast but also a talented auctioneer and innovator in the classic car business. According to Adolfo Orsi, the auction business would be different today had it not been for Robert Brooks.
The 26th Classic Car Auction Yearbook does not differ fundamentally from its predecessors; it again contains a comprehensive data section with the sales results of 5407 cars offered for sale from 334 manufacturers. The chassis number, the estimated value and the hammer price in US dollars, British pounds and euros are also mentioned in each case.
This almost 300-page block is supplemented by market analyses and commentaries, as well as reviews of the past 28 years in the form of Top X lists. There are also over 60 full-page advertisements from advertising partners, who, according to Orsi, supported the publication's "raison d'être" with all their might.
Things were looking up
The market has recovered somewhat, as Mathieu Lamoure (Artcurial), Philip Kantor (Bonhams), David Gooding (Gooding & Co), Gord Duff (RM/Sotheby's) and Dave Magers (Mecum), who as always comment on the situation as market representatives, all agree in principle. It is also clear to everyone that online-only auctions, which have been able to establish themselves surprisingly quickly, even for more expensive cars, precisely because of Covid-19, will not disappear.
However, the representatives of the auction houses also agree that direct contact between people, the live presentation of a car, the exchange between people in an eye-to-eye conversation will remain important. Above all, however, many people in this business would miss the face-to-face encounters ...
Cars are getting older again
While the average age of traded cars has fallen almost steadily over the past few years, it rose by two years during the period under review according to the analyses by Orsi/Gazzi and was therefore well over 50 years old again.
The value of the most expensive car traded also increased (from USD 8.3 million to USD 20.5 million), as did the level of the 100th hammer price (from USD 1.086 million to USD 1.76 million), but this of course has a lot to do with the pandemic, which continued to be felt in the reporting year.
The average hammer price also rose and was even higher than in the 2018-2019 period. Prices have now actually returned to the level first reached in 2012-2013.
75% of all cars were sold in the reporting year, which is roughly better than in the previous year.
Again with price trends for specific cars
In the 2019-2020 edition, the interesting charts showing the price development of individual chassis numbers were missing due to the anniversary of the 25th edition. Now they are back, with 30 examples to analyze. Only cars that were also sold in the period 2013 to 2016 show falling prices, otherwise the vehicles (almost) always rose in value, regardless of whether they were made by Ferrari, Duesenberg, Bugatti or Lamborghini.
There is the 94 Toyota Supra with chassis 9030, which increased in value almost twenty-fivefold between 2011 and 2021, but also the Porsche 918 Sypder (chassis 800089) from 2015, which lost almost half of its value between 2017 and 2021.
The 192 most expensive cars
There were 192 cars that changed hands for at least a seven-figure sum in 2020-2021. At the top is the McLaren F1, which Gooding & Co in Pebble Beach sold for just over USD 20 million, followed by the three BAT 5-7-9s, which were sold as a group by RM/Sotheby's for USD 14.84 million.
As always, Orsi/Gazzi devoted a more detailed article to the 15 most valuable cars. In addition to those already mentioned, there are of course various Ferraris, but also several Bugatti, a Matra, an Aston Martin, a Jaguar, a McLaren Monoposto, a Cobra and a Duesenberg.
Page 74 then shows a Citroën 2CV Charleston, which was sold by Aguttes on August 30, 2021 for EUR 141,960. The estimated value of EUR 50,000 to 70,000 had already indicated that a special car was being offered here, but the bidders gave the car, which is not rare in itself, even more credit. This was undoubtedly due to the fact that the car had never been driven and had never been redeemed and was offered as new, so to speak.
Entertainment
Of course, the Auction Yearbook is primarily aimed at people who are actively involved in the classic and vintage car trade. However, it can also be used for entertainment, as it is exciting to see how many BMWs have been auctioned over the years and how high the sales rate was in each case.
The page with the top 20 of the last 28 years also has a more entertaining aspect. 11 of them come from Modena, with two GTOs topping the list with hammer prices of USD 48 and 38 million.
The pages from 374 onwards can almost make you cry when you see the prices at which a Ferrari LM (USD 589,119) or a Maserati Birdcage (USD 1.1 million) were auctioned many years ago and thus made it into the top 5 of the year.
At EUR 80 / CHF 90, the Auction Yearbook is not cheap, but anyone who has already bought the previous volumes and loves collecting such information on paper will not be able to avoid the latest edition. The work is definitely worth reading, as the combination of data collection, analysis and commentary section is valuable.
Bibliographical information
- Title: The Classic Car Auction Yearbook 2020 - 2021
- Authors/Editors: Adolfo Orsi and Raffaele Gazzi
- Language: English
- Publisher: Historica Selecta SRL
- Edition: 1st edition October 2021
- Format: Hardcover, 24.3 x 31.5 cm
- Size: 400 pages, 834 color and black and white illustrations, many graphics
- Price: EUR 80.00 / CHF 90.00
- ISBN: 978-88-96232-13-2
- Buy/order: Online at BM Classics or at other booksellers recommended by Historica Selecta
