Gooding boasts top AZ sale, plenty of other highlights
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. _ Of all of the collector car auctions staged during January Auction Week in the Scottsdale/Phoenix area, one that many old car fans particularly look forward to attending is the sale held by Gooding & Company. Established in 2004, Gooding & Company came to the Valley of the Sun in 2008 and brought with it an experience that went beyond the fine specialty cars it put under the gavel. The sale has become an experience of grandeur with a bit of levity, and with some very impressive sales results along the way.
While the cars were gleaming again this year as they sparkled beneath Gooding & Company’s theatrically staged lighting, it was auctioneer Charlie Ross who was really the star. Ross is considered to be the best at his craft by many in the industry, both in the United States as well as his home base of Great Britain. Having watched him for the past 16 years, we have to agree. During the sale, Ross encouraged bids from well-heeled bidders, once refusing a $500 jump by saying, “I cannot accept that, sir — we are not selling scrap!” When trying to elicit a $10,000 bid, Ross declared, “That is just a night on the town, at least where I come from!”
But it was the cars that people really came to see, and Gooding & Company did not disappoint in Scottsdale. Taking the top dollar sale here, as well as for the entire week at all auctions, was the 1995 Ferrari F50 coupe, impeccable in every way, hammered sold at a
