Couple Highlights from RM/Sotheby’s tonight including type 64

[nathanbs]

Type 64 was a **** show as the auctioneer was saying $30-40-50-60-70 million but apparently his English is not so great as it was $13-14-15-16-17 million. I took a pic at the $70.5 million mark. Hammered at $17mil + fees. Super low mileage 1967 “Rallye” S, original paint, 8266 miles, hammered at $825k + fees, way way over estimate. Lastly a ‘86 930 only 15k miles was a bit of a flip at $121k + fees.

[techweenie]

The Type 64 didn’t sell. I think the reserve was closer to $20 million.

That auction was a shambles.

[nathanbs]

Originally Posted by techweenie

The Type 64 didn’t sell. I think the reserve was closer to $20 million.

That auction was a shambles.

What I don’t understand is if $70.5 was really $17.5 then where did the $500k go as it hammered at $17mil. I didn’t hear the reserve mentioned

[amg463]

Every bid was fake . There wasn’t a real one on that type 64.

[faapgar]

The original 911S was very cool.The Goodyear tires were and interesting touch.I would have looked for some used Semperits at least to be period correct.

[JMS935]

Originally Posted by amg463

Every bid was fake . There wasn’t a real one on that type 64.

There are so many shenanigans at these auctions, I don’t believe half of the RNMs get to their high bid through arms length price discovery by actual buyers.

[stephenacworth]

Was a real shambles and I think RM has lost a whole lot of credibility over that one... the auctioneer was very poor in his enunciation in this lot
Compared to others... the company should be ashamed of themselves...

[JMS935]

What a hot mess that was! I just watched it on YouTube...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=g_8mRcFHfhg

So everyone in the room including the auction house’s own video tech couldn’t understand this dufus. Why would anyone jump a bid by 9.5 mil several times? That’s what it looked like - how strange. Once they got past bozo buckets annunciation problems, his other piss poor auctioneering skills stuck out. He’s stuck at 17 mil and you can’t tell where he’s going with it...is he looking for a 17 mil bid? Or does he have it and looking for 17.5 mil? It wasn’t clear for a while, until right before they hammered it, at least to me it wasn’t. What a mess they made of this.

RM must stand for Ruin My auction. Or maybe Run to Mecum, because even they could do a far better job than this. I hope the owner of that car gets compensated for this multi million dollar sh|t show. Even the setting looks like crap, before dufus took the mike with hard candy in his mouth to auction off one of the most historically significant Porsches of all time.

[omnivore]

It was fairly appalling. Why didn’t they just start over and run the car again? Probably would’ve sold. They got flustered and didn’t think straight.
High-end auction houses seem to like British accents on stage- high brow veneer.

Beats the ‘livestock auction’ style at the other houses however.

Wonder if the ralleye 911 had the outside temp gauge...

[specialtyoneinc]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-18/type-64-nazi-car-by-porsche-fails-to-sell-amid-auction-blunder

[nathanbs]

Originally Posted by specialtyoneinc

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-18/type-64-nazi-car-by-porsche-fails-to-sell-amid-auction-blunder

Bloomberg confidently thinks it was an attempt at a prank which is what I definitely thought. I heard the auctioneer transition from “ty” to “teens” way too obviously and now all of the sudden he can say sixteen, seventeen perfectly.

[specialtyoneinc]

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/18/20-million-porsche-flops-in-auction-snafu.html

[nathanbs]

I just realized I have a handful of videos during the auction of the type 64. Now I want to watch and listen to them to hear it all over again and see what I think.

[JMS935]

Originally Posted by nathanbs

Bloomberg confidently thinks it was an attempt at a prank which is what I definitely thought. I heard the auctioneer transition from “ty” to “teens” way too obviously and now all of the sudden he can say sixteen, seventeen perfectly.

I can’t imagine this would be a prank, especially not at this level. It’s more like the auctioneer was being conscious of his mistake once he realized it, and was just concentrating on annunciating better after the gaffe.

I wonder if this leads to a lawsuit. If I were the owner, I would be making a phone call to my attorney come first thing Monday morning.

There were clearly people watching the screen while bidding in person, and if there were any phone bidders, I’m sure they were getting fed the current bids from the same video screen that was showing 30 mil, 40 mil, 50, mil, etc. If the reserve was in the ballpark of 20 mil, and there were several bids well in excess of that, no matter how fleeting they were, the owner might have a decent claim to pursue against RM Sotheby’s for royally messing this up. Not only did none of those bids stick, but it tainted the auction entirely once they reset it back to 17 mil, as nobody wanted anything to do with it at that point, there were no more bids placed once corrected. This mess is also likely to taint any future attempts to bring it to auction at a later date, or at least that argument can be made in the lawsuit, which is why I think this auction has irreparably harmed the owner - thus a mega lawsuit. I don’t think this is the last we’re hearing of this one.

[nathanbs]

In watching/listening to it over it’s the fault of whomever puts the numbers on the screen. Why would people be bidding in 10 million dollar increments and then $500 every in between? For example $30 million-$40 million- $40.5- $50 million- $50.5-$60 million-$60.5

[specialtyoneinc]

Originally Posted by amg463

Every bid was fake . There wasn’t a real one on that type 64.

That's what I've been hearing also. Good listen on the newest Spike Car Radio about auction shenanigans.

https://www.podcastone.com/episode/Magnus-Walker-and-Hannah-Elliott

[Mocker]

Phone bids are really the only explanation. Anyone else would have been watching the screen and thinking, "WTF?"

[drauz]

I wonder if someone somehow in the chain mixed & confused bids in USD & HKD. As a rationale, a defendable mgmt CYA move... before firing people. None-the-less, not a pro move for the brand.

[nathanbs]

Originally Posted by drauz

I wonder if someone somehow in the chain mixed & confused bids in USD & HKD. As a rationale, a defendable mgmt CYA move... before firing people. None-the-less, not a pro move for the brand.

Nah it was to the exact amount just 30 instead of 13, 40 instead of fourteen, 70 instead of 17. It was the person in charge of putting the amount on the screen.

[JMS935]

Originally Posted by drauz

I wonder if someone somehow in the chain mixed & confused bids in USD & HKD. As a rationale, a defendable mgmt CYA move... before firing people. None-the-less, not a pro move for the brand.

It was definitely a phonetic thing.