At Home in the Desert
Scottsdale, Arizona-based auction house Russo and Steele delivered solid results, January 17-20, in its third year at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick. The total haul was $11.8 million on 308 cars sold and, though overall sales were down from $15.9 million in 2018, the average sale price increased to $38,464. The sell-through rate was also down, but still at a respectable 50 percent.
At the top of the sales chart was a 2012 Lexus LFA, a 552-hp, V-10-powered supercar, which sold for $412,500. Proceeds from the car’s sale went to Plexus Charities, which works with Feeding America, a nationwide network of food pantries. Second on Russo’s top-10 list was an award-winning and meticulously restored 1972 Ferrari 365 GTC/4 that garnered $330,000, followed by a low-mileage 2006 Ford GT at $286,000.
Other topsellers included a pair of Hemi cars, the first a 10,000-mile 1967 Dodge Charger “survivor” that sold for $280,500, and a numbers-matching 1970 Plymouth ’Cuda coupe with a four-speed that nearly matched the Charger at $231,000. At the bargain end of the sale were a 1997 BMW Z3 roadster at $3,850, a 1987 BMW 325i coupe for $3,300, and a 1976 Fiat 124 Spider for just $2,750.
JAGUAR
Year: 1968
Model: E-type Series 1.5 Convertible
Condition: Restored/#1-
Reserve: Undisclosed
High Bid: $60,000 (not sold)
Avg. Selling Price: $150,000
This E-type was in the collection of a single owner for the past three decades, and that owner took outstanding care of his prize. The clean interior was original (minus new webbing and seat stuffing in recent years), the Primrose paint was better than the factory would have achieved, and a complete mechanical rebuild was performed at 60,000 miles. (The odometer read 76,000 miles at the auction.) It came with all receipts from 1988-on, and many from the first two owners. And? Bupkis. A sixty-grand bid. The seller was probably right to take his car home
