RM Sotheby’s, Scottsdale
RM’s reserved auctioneering belies the excitement of what is largely a no-reserve auction. These are high-end cars, with glittering pedigrees, and they’re most likely going to sell. Just 30 cars had reserves over the course of the event, half of which sold anyway.
What’s more, and this is probably the biggest secret of Scottsdale weekend: It costs absolutely nothing for the hoi polloi (like us) to come in and look at RM’s on-offer cars. While you can’t enter the actual event without a pass, the cars are distributed across the hotel grounds — and as it’s an active hotel, it’s open to guests. While other places charge $50 or more to see cars that 20,000 of your closest friends are looking at as they stand shoulder to shoulder with you, the RM event is free to spectators who want the thrill of seeing some amazing, hand-curated vintage machinery up close and personal — but prefer the concept of social distancing to rubbing elbows. The crush of people is not so great that stanchions and ropes block off the cars from the filthy masses and their buckets of kettle corn. The cars can be inspected, with doors and hoods available to be opened for further scrutiny. Even parking in the hotel garage is free — at least, it was on the day we visited. It’s like a Cars and Coffee event, with checkbooks.
RM’s 2020 stats seem strong: $30.4 million over two days, 90-percent sell-through (128 of 146 lots sold), and a whopping $243,200 per-car average. Yet those numbers were a little shy of 2019’s totals: $36.8-million sold and a $285,448-per-vehicle average.
BY THE NUMBERS
Total Sales: $30.4 million
Sell-Through: 90 percent
Average Sale: $243,200
Top Sale: 2018 Pagani Huayra Roadster; $2.37 million
UPCOMING DATES
August 14-15: Monterey, California
