RM Sotheby’s banks $17.8 million in Switzerland

The docket for RM Sotheby’s inaugural auction held in conjunction with the Bernina Turismo vintage races and St. Moritz International Automobile Week in Switzerland included a boutique docket of just 24 lots, and only 73.9 percent of them were hammered sold.

However, the 17 vehicles that sold at the Kempinski Hotel in the Swiss resort community accounted for total sales of nearly $17.8 million, with three selling for more than $2 million each and another five going for $1 million or more.

“The sale offered exceptional quality automobiles, boasting some of the rarest blue-chip motor cars available to the market and all presented in outstanding condition,” RM Sotheby’s noted in the post-sale news release.

“Once again, we have demonstrated our expertise in creating small boutique-style auctions which offer only the very best cars available to the market, and we believe the results speak for themselves,” noted Oliver Camelin, RM Sotheby’s director of Swiss sales. 

Topping the St. Moritz sales results was a 1958 BMW 507 Series II roadster. A restored example of the 252 examples produced by BMW, and this one a car that originally was sold to a Swiss owner, the vintage roadster sold for the Swiss equivalent of $2,309,625.

Also topping the $2 million mark were a 2002 McLaren MP4 17D Formula One racing car and a 1988 Porsche 959 Komfort.

The McLaren F1 racer was driven 12 times in the 2002 and 2003 seasons by Kimi Raikkonen or David Coulthard, with Coulthard winning the Australian Grand Prix in the car in 2003. The McLaren sold at the auction for $2,127,712, as did the Porsche 959, which RM Sotheby’s said was the vehicle that had produced the most pre-sale interest from potential bidders.

The Porsche was one of seven such cars built especially for the royal family of Qatar, was ordered in Wine Red metallic paint over a burgundy and gray leather interior and had been driven only 595 miles since its delivery.

Another low-mileage car was a 2012 Aston Martin One-77, one of 77 produced and driven only 625 miles by its two previous owners. The car brought $1,854,542 at the auction.

The auction featured one lot of automobilia, one of nine Pininfarina-designed and produced Leggenda eClassic racing simulators. It sold for $192,000. 

Top-10 sales, RM Sotheby’s St. Moritz 2021

1. 1958 BMW 507 Series II roadster, $2,309,625
2. 2002 McLaren MP4 17D, $2,127,712
3. 1988 Porsche 959 Komfort, $2,127,712
4. 2012 Aston Martin One-77, $1,854,542
5. 2015 Porsche 918 ‘Weissach’ Spyder, $1,521,334
6. 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL ‘Gullwing,’ $1,491,015
7. 1953 Fiat 8V Berlinetta, $1,460,696
8. 1961 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL roadster, $1,218,145
9. 1955 Austin-Healey 100S, $757,299
10. 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7 touring, $551,130

(Prices include buyer’s fee.)

RM Sotheby’s upcoming collector car auctions are scheduled as online-only events, with The King Collection, to be conducted from September 17-24 and Open Roads, October, from October 6-13.  Its next live auction is scheduled for October 7-8 at Hershey, Pennsylvania.