Auctions leave me dazed and confused

IS any piece of metal, even a Ferrari GTO, worth nearly $60 million?

Auctions leave me dazed and confused

THERE are a lot of questions to answer as we move towards the end of the year. Is any piece of metal, even a Ferrari GTO, worth nearly $60 million? Is a 1967 Toyota worth $1m (even though it is a 200GT)? Who in their right mind would pay $150,000 for a Goggomobil look-alike (OK, it is a 1960 F.M.R. Tg 500 Tiger but I bet you can't tell the difference)?

The combined Sotheby's/RM Art of the Automobile in New York and the Bonhams no fancy name auction in London over the past few weeks has left me dazed and confused. Well, there were quite a few beverages, many of them free, involved. And I suppose my discovery of the healing qualities of the espresso martini may have contributed too. Younger readers, there is a lesson for you here. When you grow up, drink champagne; it doesn't give you the really bad hangovers.

So there was only one answer. After the Bonhams auction I went to seek the wisdom of the writer Romesh Gunesekera. "Romey," I said, "is there a future for car lovers like us?"

Always enigmatic, Romey looked at me and said: "That is the way we live nowadays: driving along a road between hallucination and amnesia. As long as you are moving, you are OK." That was deep.

But not as deep as the action at Sotheby's on York Avenue on the upper east side where it was standing room only as frenzied rich persons from 17 countries spent more than $30m an hour for two hours buying 40 cars, bikes, painting and other stuff. Sixteen of the 31 cars sold for more than $1m. No real surprises here. Most were either from 1955 to 1965 or from the Depression era. Four were Ferraris. Two were Mercedes 300SLs. (Two years ago I told you to buy the 300 SLs, but did you listen? No wonder you're still driving an Audi.)

For me the most interesting sale of the day was the 2011 Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Bleu Nuit at $2.5m. This was one of 150 convertibles made. While it was good for 431km/h, Bugatti limited top speed in the convertible to 354km/h to avoid blowing your face off.

If you like bling and performance, this is the car for you. Everything about it says blue. No really, the doors have Bleu Nuit written on them. What does $2.5m for a one-owner French car made by VW with only 500km on the clock tell us? Apart from saying I wasn't the only one hoeing into the free champers, second-hand Veyrons are starting to look cheap.

Now I have a confession. The week before Sotheby's I did pop into the Bonhams Century of Movie Magic auction in New York. Once I saw a gentleman pay $4.5m for a lead statute of a dead bird (Maltese Falcon) and $510,000 for a 1940 Buick (from Casablanca) I knew this auction season was going to be a wild old trip.

Then it was to London where, call me old-fashioned, but before any auction you have to have at least one big night at Annabel's. Yes it's 50 years old. Who isn't these days? But it's so nice to see so many fathers there with their daughters.

Anyway, because of the crook seats, the bidding at Bonham's London sale was super quick. Again in this very hot market no real surprises. A beautiful 1952 C Type Jag, one of 54 built, an ex Ecurie Ecosse team car, brought $5.2m. The Australian bank manager's favourite, a 1959 Aston DB4GT, saw $2.8m and the 1964 Porsche 904 GTS didn't sell.