THE TREND FOR RISING PRICES for collectable classic cars and black and white number plates at auction continues unabated.
At the recent Shannons Melbourne sale, a buyer was clearly inspired by Porsche’s 70th anniversary and splashed out $352,000 for a 1962 Porsche 356B T6 “Twin Grille” Roadster, an Australian record. The final price was an astounding $100,000 above its pre-auction high estimate.
Meanwhile the craze for black and white number plates also continues to exceed pre-auction estimates. Victorian plate “153” sold for $240,000 and most other plates also sold well above pre-auction estimates.
Shannons auction realised almost $3.5 million in sales and a highly impressive clearance rate of 90 percent, no doubt helped by a considerable number of cars being offered at no reserve. Most “no reserve” cars sold for within their pre-auction estimate range, although the owner of the 1968 Jaguar 240 saloon must have been disappointed with his result of $11,000 against an estimate of $25-30,000.
The 1998 Macrae Porsche 550 replica Spyder was a surprising result, bringing $90,000 against its estimate of $50-65,000.