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Once upon a time, an auction containig 5 Pierce-Arrows might stir some interest on this forum. A 1925 Model 80 7 passenger sedan in drivers condition managed to sell for $9,625.Lot 2035 All the prices I give include the buyer’s premium. A 1936 12 cylinder sedan that was best observed at a distance, though was not a wreck made $18,700 (lot 2042). A 1935 “V12” sedan went for $15,400. To give some scale, a 1942 Crosley Conv. Cpe. brought $15,400 and it wasn’t in much better shape. These 4 cars were part of Walter Miller’s Estate.
Lot 6066 was a 1925 Model 80 7 passenger Touring. It brought $35,200. And the last one, a 1932 Model 54 Club Brougham in nice shape, did not sell and you can buy it for $67,000.
RM’s site is easy to access, unlike many that don’t seem to want to share. There are around 20 pages and you can have a chuckle at the $2,000
somebody paid for some Ferrrari owner’s manual or around $800 somebody paid for a 365GT steering wheel removal tool. They made around $18 million and the cars I like were generally down. If the trend keeps up, my heirs will have to learn to count callories to get by.
Although most all believe that the market is down, I think the prices realized are more an indication of condition adjustment than they are a market adjustment.
Project cars just don’t bring what they used to, because one has to factor in the cost of repair and restoration. What used to be a few thousand dollar paint job is now (according to a local shop that does antique car painting) $10,000 for a driver, $20,000 for a show car. The labor for an interior can run $10,000 to $15,000 easily, and that’s not counting materials. Chrome is out of sight, it’s like a game to see how much you’ll pay for shiny.
Nicely restored, well maintained cars will still bring fair money, but projects will go begging, and I think these prices reflect that. Just my opinion…dc
The 35 and 36 were rolling parts cars. I had a chance to purchase both three years ago, and passed on them, and I placed a value on the 35 at 7k, and the 36 at 9k( At that time…NOT today.). Parts cars and rolling wrecks are available for MUCH less today…..the market on these cars has adjusted………as well as finished cars……the market and times are changing. If you have 50k to spend on a pre war car today….you have twenty five times more choices to make a purchase than ten or fifteen years ago……..when selling a Pierce Arrow today, available Packards, Lincolns, and Cadillacs can be bought by the truck load………thus pushing all prices lower…..its not the cars….its supply and demand. Why by a parts car or project car when nice driving cars can be had at 20k? Take a look at the price of V-12 Lincoln OPEN cars………I paid more for my yard tractor than nice Lincoln drivers are selling for.
Considering the current state of affairs, I thought this was not a bad result ($82,500) from last weekend.
https://www.saratogaautoauction.org/vehicles/1159/1931-pierce-arrow-model-42-phaeton
More generally, when I look at results and auction listings, the auction estimates seem to be further away from market value than ever!
It’s a bargain for a collector, my bet is there were just no bidders and a dealer bought it, and you’ll see it listed for 125k soon.
Does anyone know who DID buy it?
I found out who bought the Phaeton and he is a new member here as of yesterday. Hopefully he will fall in love with it and it will stay with him for a long time, but as mentioned above it would not be difficult to get out of it financially either.
That’s great news, I’m very pleased it went to an “end user”!
Looks like a great car, I love my Model 43 phaeton but that would be a close second for sure…..