Celebrity Car Auction

And while he is still living and is not quite the stature of Coburn or McQueen I expect there will still be significant interest.

The cars are also not in the league of the Coburn Ferrari California Spyder or the McQueen.Ferrari Lusso,  however the 1968 Shelby 500GT Mustang Convertible should bring a significant price over market value as it is quite unique. Willis reportedly had the car build up from a less than perfect example to be his own interpretation of the McQueen Bullit car. It is a very tastefully modification of the classic. This along with the combination of the auction being held at The Petersen Museum in LA should deliver a good result. I am sure there are still a few collectors left that haven’t lost everything in the stock market crash.

The Bruce factor should add a bit as it does provide added value for collectors when the ownership has been for a reasonable amount of time, if the owner is a recognised "Car Guy" ie; Leno, Letterman, Seinfeld and a number of others known well in the classic car community it helps, but not as much as being a Hollywood Legend and being dead.

The classic car market has now matured to the point it is a viable alternative to the art and property markets. Governance, pedigree and condition are the driving factors for price.

On another Classic Car market and auction note, the sale of one of the worlds most significant collections of Lotus Race cars takes place here in Sydney on the 16th of November. I fear with the current price of the Australian dollar we will loose a number of the cars to the British and American market. Details are on the Bonhams site.

Recent celebrity car auction prices:

• Coburn’s Ferrari 250GT California Spyder sold for & million Euros early this year.
• McQueen’s Ferrari 250GT Lusso sold for 2.3 million US mid last year.

Rod Halligan