Artcurial Auction .. Classic Cars booming?

Wow.. pause for a sharp in-take of breath! 

Artcurial are an important French Auction house and they have held one of their most prestigious auctions here at The Le Mans Classic since 2007.

The results are spectacular to say the least ! They sold more than €13M worth of cars ( that is around $17M). 15% of their sales went to America and 52% remained in Europe.

Photo: Artcurial

Two of the ‘star cars' in the auction have 'Le Mans' in their genes. The 1961 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Roadster went for €1,115,600 is one. The 300SL Gullwing started it all when Hermann Lang stepped out of the car after winning Le Mans in 1952. The ‘Gullwing’ did go into production and even to this day they turn heads everywhere. There are two examples racing here at Le Mans Classic. Despite its good looks it was a few problems.. It apparently suffered from serious understeer, which is strange bearing in mind it was a powerful rear wheel drive  machine, but just when you thought you had got on top of the understeer you would be greeted with ‘snap oversteer’ when the rear swing axles gave up the unequal struggle.. Drum brakes slowed the car up but really didn't do much to stop the car. Plus the interior was cramped and got very hot. OK it looked a bit smart with all that chrome and bright red leather – for some reason , who knows why,  SLs were known as tart traps! 

But the Gull wing did spawn the far more civilised 300 SL Roadster, many say that while it is less iconic it is in fact a much better bet and almost as desirable nowadays .. hence European collector who paid €1,115,600 for one here at Le Mans!

Another car in the auction with actual Le Mans history was the 1964 AC Cobra 289 MkII. This fetched €761,000 ($1,034,522).

Photo: Washington Post

This Cobra 289 raced here 50 years ago , it was driven by Jean de Mortemart and Régis Fraissinet and they came 18th overall. It is alleged that Régis Fraissinet, wealthy heir to a dynasty of industrialists, calmly announced to the press that he raced motor cars in order to provide a different perspective on his everyday life : " There are those who like to play tennis and those who prefer golf. I play tennis and golf but, most of all, I prefer to race cars...” I wonder if he had any idea what would happen to AC Cobra prices fifty years later !

Take a look at www.artcurial.com