Every year, the Oldtimer Galerie Toffen holds an auction in Gstaad between Christmas and New Year. The date is fixed, but the day of the week changes. Sunday, December 29, 2024 was the seventh time.
In beautiful winter weather, car enthusiasts and entertainment seekers gathered to compete for one of 46 cars, a tractor, a boat, three motorcycles or some automobilia.
The fact that Gstaad is a special place became clear to those unfamiliar with the area as soon as they took a stroll through the village. Where else would you come across a BMW E9 and an Aston Martin Valkyrie (with winter tires) within a few meters of each other? The density of fur coats outside of Gstaad is probably only surpassed by a few meeting places for the top ten thousand.
In the festival tent below the village center, interested parties were able to inspect the vehicles extensively before the auction. The cars were on average 51 years old, 21% of them were offered without a reserve price.
Wide range on offer
From 17:00, 46 cars came under the hammer, which together covered almost a whole century of automotive engineering.
Four pre-war cars stood in contrast to six modern cars (built after 2005), the rest were distributed fairly evenly across the decades in between, even if the fifties and sixties were somewhat overrepresented, which corresponds to the usual classic car structure.
The 48 vehicles came from 26 different brands, with the most cars coming from Ferrari (5, including the Dino), Mercedes-Benz (5), Porsche (4, plus a tractor), Rolls-Royce (4) and Ford.
There was no shortage of exotic car manufacturers, such as Hotchkiss and Monteverdi.
Picky bidders
The cars got off to a great start. The VW Beetle 1300 from 1969 with just 778 km on the clock was bid up to CHF 34,000, exceeding the median estimate of CHF 32,500.
The buyer paid CHF 38,080 or EUR 40,640 for the Beetle.
However, only one Rolls-Royce 20/25 HP Shooting Brake from 1935 managed the feat of surpassing the average estimate with the highest bid. All other cars fell at least just short of the average expectations.
On average, 74% of the average estimate was offered, ranging from 35% to 105%.
As a result, 44 % of the vehicles (excluding motorcycles) were sold directly for an average of CHF 109,400. For 21% of the cars, a deal could still be reached after renegotiations; they were knocked down "subject to reservation".
However, 35% of the cars remained unsold, but interested parties can of course contact the Oldtimer Galerie in Toffen in the coming days and weeks if they wish to make an offer.
The bidders were quite selective, but there was no clear preference for young or old cars. The bids for the two oldest cars were low, but the same happened to the youngest vehicles on offer.
It was surprising that neither the Porsche 911 E 2.2 Targa from 1970 nor the Austin-Healey 3000 Mk II from 1961 with racing modifications were able to generate a usable bid.
Ferrari versus Ford
The most expensive cars were a duel between Ferrari and Ford, which the sports cars from Maranello ultimately won.
The most expensive car was the beautiful Ferrari 250 GTE 2+2 from 1962, which sold for CHF 425,600 (EUR 454,216).
It was followed at a slight distance by the 2006 Ford GT, for which the new owner paid CHF 414,400 (EUR 442,263).
In third place was the Ferrari 365 GT 2+2 from 1970. The "Queen Mary" in excellent original condition was sold for CHF 280,000 (EUR 298,826).
The Ford GT "Holman Moody Heritage Edition" from 2022 (highest bid CHF 800,000), for which CHF 1.1 to 1.3 million had been expected, was left standing. Perhaps its chances would have been greater with winter tires?
Hardly any bargains
You couldn't really get a good deal on a new car in Gstaad. Although both the Pedrazzini boat and the Porsche diesel tractor were sold well below their estimated value, they were obviously not cars.
The CHF 21,000 (EUR 22,412) for which a completely and extensively restored MGB from 1973 was sold can, however, be considered a bargain.
CHF 67,200 (EUR 71,718) for a 1971 Dodge Charger 440 R/T or CHF 28,000 (EUR 29,883) for a 1956 Land Rover 86 Series 1 were also certainly attractive prices.
Among the unsold cars, some attractive vehicles stood out in particular, such as the BMW-Alpina Z8 Roadster from 2003, the Mercedes-Benz 600 from 1971, the Jaguar D-Type Proteus from 1962 with fresh historic road registration in Switzerland or the moderately priced Lamborghini Jarama 400 GTS from 1974.
With a secured turnover of CHF 2.3 million and several hundred thousand still to come from the post-sale, Serge Stotzer and his team must have been satisfied despite a few unsold cars. The last auction of the year was like the entire 2024 auction year; there were surprises and disappointments, but there was no real reluctance to buy.
