INCLUDES FULL RESULTS. With combined gross figures totalling more than 27m euros, Bonhams and Artcurial have raised the level of Rétromobile-week sales to new heights. Items sold included a Ferrari Testarossa once belonging to Alain Delon (dog not included)...

Bonhams, 7 February 2013

The venue (the Grand Palais, near the Seine) was magnificent and the Bonhams team did an excellent job in selling almost 13m euros' worth of motorbikes, automobilia and motor cars, as well as the 1929 American Moth Corporation De Havilland 60GMW Gipsy Moth that once featured in the film ‘Out of Africa’. It was sold – fittingly – to a keen aviator from Kenya, for EUR 201,250.

Other big-selling items included the 1953 Bentley R-Type Continental (EUR 575,000, below), the 1938 Bugatti Type 57C Special Coupé once owned by Ettore Bugatti himself (EUR 690,000) and the 1962 Citroën DS19 Décapotable by Henri Chapron, a 'perfect-for-Paris' car that raised EUR 162,150.



The one-family-ownership-from-new, LHD Aston Martin DB4 Vantage Convertible sold (deservedly) for EUR 805,000. Motor car sales (only) grossed EUR 11,632,250, contributing to a total figure that was a shade short of EUR 13m.

Artcurial 8 February 2013

It was standing-room-only at Artcurial’s Friday night sale, with bidders coming from far and wide to buy many ‘No Reserve’ cars as well as the headlining Ferrari and Bugatti entries. The Fiat 8V, with bodywork by Vignale, failed to sell but, that apart, it was another super-successful auction for Artcurial, totalling EUR 14.6m - the biggest-ever collectors' car sale in France.

A little flavour of Parisian nightlife was injected into proceedings with dancers and music preceding some of the lots, and the event itself did not finish until after midnight. A French collector bought the historically significant 1936 Talbot-Lago T150C for EUR 1,461,800, while the very original (“never seen a drop of rain”, so the vendor stated), two-owners-from-new 1962 Ferrari 250 GT Cabriolet (below) went for EUR 846,000.



The white, ‘No Reserve’ 1970 Lamborghini Miura S achieved EUR 426,000, while Romano Artioli, the Italian entrepreneur who bought the Bugatti name in 1987 to launch the EB110, was present on the night to witness two of his cars find new owners. The 1995 Bugatti EB 110SS (the last model to be built, with just 14,000km from new and never registered) sold for EUR 448,900, the 1936 Bugatti 57 Ventoux EUR 403,100, an above-estimate figure.

Finally, to add more uniquely French razzamatazz, a 1987 Ferrari Testarossa owned by French actor Alain Delon since 1989 (top), made EUR 171,500, (estimate EUR 40,000 - 60,000). The car, pictured above with a faithful canine friend, came complete with a service book signed by Delon, wishing the new owner the best of luck in the future.