$62 Million in Sales at ‘Art of the Automobile’ Auction

The Ferrari was the highlight of the much-publicized “Art of the Automobile” sale, held jointly by RM Auctions and Sotheby’s and billed as the first major collector-car auction in New York City in a decade. The total for the 31 vehicles that sold was just over $62 million.

The auction houses organized the sale as an experiment, aimed at a wider market for collector automobiles presented with an emphasis on art and design. While 11 record prices for particular models were set, the results of the experiment in presenting vehicles as art objects — in an auction season when paintings and sculptures have smashed previous price marks — were not entirely clear.

One keynote of the cars-as-art approach failed to sell. Bids for the one-of-a-kind orange 1955 Lincoln Indianapolis Exclusive Study, by the Italian coach builder Boano, topped out at $1.55 million against a presale estimate of $1.8 million to $2.5 million. Two other attention-getting lots went unsold: a 1997 Ferrari Formula One racecar and “The Duchess,” a 1941 Cadillac limousine with links both to royalty and to New York City.

Other results, including the buyer’s premium:

¦ 1956 Aston Martin DB 2/4 MKII, by Ghia, $2.3 million (estimate: $1.8 million to $2.4 million)

¦ 1955 Maserati A6G/2000 Spyder, by Zagato, $4.6 million ($3.5 million to $4.5 million)

¦ 1933 Duesenberg Model SJ, by Beverly, $1.8 million ($2 million to $2.5 million)

¦ 1938 Talbot-Lago T150-C SS Teardrop Cabriolet by Figoni & Falaschi, $7.2 million ($8 million to $10 million)

Sotheby’s reported heavy traffic at the public display of the vehicles earlier in the week, and about 500 people attended a symposium of collectors on Tuesday evening.