2020 RM Sotheby’s European Online Sale (Results)

A 2020 Porsche 935 Martini sold for $1,460,000 as the top result at the RM Sotheby’s European Online-Only Sale classic car auction.

A limited-edition 2020 Porsche 935 ‘Martini’ sold for €1.32 million ($1,460,000) as the most-expensive car sold at the RM Sotheby’s Online Only: The European Sale in June 2020. It was the highest-grossing online-only car auction ever for RM Sotheby’s with a total of just over $21 million.

RM Sotheby’s Online Only: The European Sale 2020

RM Sotheby’s Online Only: The European Sale featuring the Petitjean Collection, which opened for bidding on 3 June 2020 and closed across 10-11 June 2020, amassed €19,246,540. The result was RM Sotheby’s highest-grossing online collector car auction thus far.

With close to 1,000 registered bidders, the sell-through rate was a high 91 percent across all lots offered with bidders registered from 48 countries. The sell-through rate was helped by the large number of no-reserve lots, including nearly 100 vehicles from the Petitjean collection.

Lots offered in the two-day auction were originally set for RM Sotheby’s second annual Essen auction, which was canceled alongside the Techno Classica Essen motor show due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The European Sale became the auction house’s first-ever European car auction held via its online platform. Lots saw an average of 25 bids, up to a high of 70 for a single offering.

Top Ten Results at RM Sotheby’s Online Only: The European Sale 2020

The top ten results at the RM Sotheby’s Online Only: The European Sale 2020 were:

Best Results at Online Only: The European Sale 2020

The most-expensive car sold at the RM Sotheby’s Online Only: The European Sale 2020 was a limited edition, delivery mileage 2020 Porsche 935 ‘Martini’ that sold for €1.320.000 (US $1,460,000). Presented in ‘as new’ condition, the 935 ‘Martini’ is the German manufacturer’s modern interpretation of the immortal 935 Group 5 racer. The second of only 77 examples produced over the last year by Porsche and now virtually unobtainable, serial no. 02/77 was delivered new to a Monaco-based collector in desirable Martini livery wrapping and fitted with a liquid-cooled, twin-turbocharged Type MA173 alloy-cased water-cooled six-cylinder boxer-type engine.

Pre-war European classics performed well with an elegant 1939 Bugatti Type 57 Cabriolet by Gangloff taking the second top sale slot at €770.000. Exhibited on the Bugatti stand at the 1939 Geneva Salon, the one-off Type 57 was originally a company demonstrator car, driven by the legendary Works team driver Jean-Pierre Wimille, and came to the Online Only auction following a previous 56 years of faithful care within the noted Quattroruote Collection in Italy.

Additional top sales include a pair of racing and rally legends—a 1997 RUF CTR2 Sport, one of two originally built for the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, at €682.000; and a 1981 Lancia 037 Stradale, the 14th of 207 examples built, at €451.000—as well as a rare left-hand-drive 1967 Aston Martin DB6 Volante, restored by Aston Martin Works and driven less than 800 km since the restoration, which achieved €627.000.

Results from the Petitjean Collection Sale

All lots on offer on the first day of RM Sotheby’s Online Only: The European Sale were presented from The Petitjean Collection, a group of nearly 100 cars and a selection of collectibles assembled by lifelong enthusiast and ex-racing driver, Monsieur Marcel Petitjean, and offered entirely without reserve. The 103 lots, many of which represented seldom-seen European models and have seen decades of ownership in the Petitjean Collection, brought a total of more than €7.325 million.

Many of these cars have been on static display for decades and will require work (and expense) to be restored to road use. If maintained better, several of the top results from this collection certainly would. have been over a million dollars.

Results for the Collection were led by the 1958 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Roadster, which sold for a final €759,000. Delivered new to France, the 300 SL was one of fewer than 30 examples specified with factory Rudge wheels from new and has resided in the Petitjean Collection since 1976. 

The group of eight Lamborghini models through the years offered from the Petitjean Collection drew significant pre-sale interest, translating to strong results in the auction. Leading the group was an early thin-gauge-chassis 1968 Lamborghini Miura P400 which brought a final €715,000. The first Miura delivered to Paris, the car had been owned by M. Petitjean since 1979 but it is a bit of restoration project no tin sound mechanical condition.

The 1979 Lamborghini Countach LP400 S, which sold well within estimate at €451,000. One of just 50 first-series LP400 S examples built, the car was offered from 33 years of ownership in the Collection.

The 1964 Porsche 904 GTS was another top lot of the sale, achieving a final €693,000. Offered from 27 years of single ownership, the 904 GTS was the first of a line of mid-engined Porsche sports cars that finished with the lauded 917, and was also the final design penned by F A Porsche for his family’s firm. Following appropriate preparation, the car sold today would be highly eligible for many top historic racing events. The car itself comes with no notable in-period racing history.

Major Online Classic Car Auctions in 2020

Some of the major classic car online-only sales by major auctioneers in 2020 include:

• May: RM Sotheby’s Driving into Summer – Results
• June: RM Sotheby’s European – Results
• July: RM Sotheby’s Open Roads: European & North American
• August:
  • RM Sotheby’s Shift/Monterey
  • Bonhams California Streamin — Results
  • Gooding Geared Online — Results
• September: Gooding London — Results, Bonhams Brussels Sale, RM Sotheby’s Auburn Fall (Sales from September onwards may be traditional auctions if conditions allow.)
• October: Gooding (Geared Online)