I attended a Barons auction yesterday (24 June 2014) outside of London. These are the results: Sold Entries

There were four E type Jaguars on the block (one being a total basket case). Although there were bids placed and a decent sized crowd of about sixty to seventy people, none of the cars sold. Even the basket case of a car, a LHD 4.2 which was completely rotted out, was bid up to 10k pounds but the owner still would not sell - he wanted 16k.

I wasn't sure what to make of the situation - the average age of the bidders was about 55-60, nearly everyone being an older British male (non Arab, Indian, etc.) and the owners were asking much more than what was being bid. This was in the UK, right outside of London at Sandown Raceway. If you can't sell a vintage XKE in any condition at what the market wants today, what makes the owners think these guys are going to be any younger and more willing to spend in ten to fifteen years?

My point is the young guys are not out there buying these cars and neither are different demographics of wealthier people who could. The ones who are interested are not willing to pay the asking rates. think this is more than a function of the current economy, but maybe this was just a bad day. Thoughts?

 

Not sure if you can draw conclusions from a single auction.

I'm no authority on the matter, mind you, but my line of work brings me close to some who are. They're very selective about which cars are bought or sold at any particular auction. They carefully research which cars, owners, and buyers will be there.

Depending on how the auction is promoted and what the offerings will be it's possible to end up with a mis-match of cars and potential bidders. I'm guessing a restored Ser I E-type would be in the £50-60,000 range. A quick glace at the 'sold' list suggests that this auction appealed to bidders looking for newer and lower priced cars. In others words, the 'right' bidders simply were not in attendance.




Cheers
DD

 

Maybe, but the E types got bids (not lowballs, either), just not where the sellers wanted them. Hence, my question - is this a function of the market or the economy? I am inclined to think the former - that the market is just not as strong as the sellers think it should be. Time will tell if they are correct.

 

Prices are already outrageous and it is good to see sanity returning a bit !! I hope a few speculators get bitten hard, frankly.

 

My buddy with a dealers license ran auctions for me from the the big houses (Gooding, Bonhams, Southbys, R&S & BJ) between 12/1/15 - 2/1/16 & found 9 series 1 XKE's that passed the gavel (actually one Series 1 '67 didn't sell @ $150k that was listed in " 2+" condition). Prices ranged from $57.2k ('66 listed as a "2" with mixed pedigree) to $385k (a '66 listed in "3" condition with only 7500 documented miles that sold at a Gooding-Scottsdale auction on Jan 29, 2016). The average condition of all 9 was a "2" & the average price was $135k. All but 2 sold for over $100k & 3 sold for over $200k. Remember, all prices listed DO NOT include buyers premium...so it's reasonable to add 10% to all prices listed here.