After suffering an auction house version of the sophomore slump on the Monterey Peninsula, Worldwide Auctioneers returned home to Auburn, Indiana, for its 11th annual Labor Day Weekend sale, which recorded a 99 percent sell-through rate and the sale of a 1964 Morris Mini Cooper S De Ville for an astounding $236,500.
Of course, it helped that the Mini had been owned by ex-Beatle Paul McCartney and filled with custom upgrades by coachbuilder Radford.
The car was offered as part of the Godbey Family Collection at the auction, where seven private collections were on the docket, with nearly all cars offered at no reserve.
“We’re delighted to have enjoyed an exceptional sale here at home in Auburn and honored to have been entrusted with the sale of no less than seven beautifully presented private collections,” John Kruse, Worldwide Auctioneers co-owner, said in the post-auction news release. “We extend sincere thanks to all of our friends and clients for their continued support and enthusiasm.”
The top sale of the Auburn auction was another car from the Godbey collection, a street-legal 2004 Ford GT confirmation prototype CP4 that sold for $467,500 (prices include buyer’s fee).
A 1938 Packard Twelve 1607 convertible coupe from the John Wolsiefer Sr. Collection brought $264,400 and a 1973 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am 455 Super Duty from the Jack and Donna Steele Pontiac Collection sold for $231,000.
The Steele collection included 24 Pontiacs. Other high-selling cars from that collection included a 1973 Trans-Am 455 Super Duty for $170,500 and a 1970 Firebird Trans Am Ram Air IV going for $165,000.
The auction docket included 114 vehicles.
The Auburn sale ends Worldwide’s 2018 schedule. The company opened the year with its second Scottsdale, Arizona, sale, which posted $6.1 million in sales with a 61 percent sell-through.
In April, it posted $4.3 million and a 93 percent sell-through in Arlington, Texas. In August, it’s closure sale of the Hostetler’s Hudson Auto Museum generated $7.5 million in sales with all 69 vehicles going to new owners.
Worldwide then went to Pacific Grove, California, where it had a 56-percent sell-through and $5.5 million in sales, nearly $2 million less than its inaugural Monterey Car Week sale in 2017.
The company’s next auction is scheduled for January 16 in Scottsdale as part of Arizona Auction Week 2019.
