Sports Car Digest - The Sports, Racing and Vintage Car Journal
Sports Car Digest focuses on Classic Car Auctions, Concours d’Elegance, Vintage Car Racing, Road Rallies and other historic automotive events.
One of the first people to report on the collector car market, Rick Carey’s market knowledge is unparalleled and he has one of the largest databases of auction transactions. Carey has a strong and recent background in racing, particularly road racing in International GT endurance competition and a particular interest and focus upon the collector car market including historical trends and economic analysis.
Gooding & Company, Fashion Square, Scottsdale, January 20-21, 2012Report and photos by Rick Carey, Auction EditorSince coming to Arizona in 2008 Gooding & Company has established itself at the core of the Arizona collector car auction experience, bringing outstanding cars and a refreshing upscale environment.2012 continued that record, recording the Arizona auctions’ highest sale, … [Read more...]
Report and photos (unless noted) by Rick Carey, Auction EditorThis year marked RM’s “Lucky Thirteenth” Arizona auction, held January 19-20, 2012 at the posh Arizona Biltmore Resort and Spa. Growing from $6.3 million in 2000 to consistent totals in medium eight figures, RM’s $25,660,400 sale in 2012 marked the Arizona auction’s fifth year with greater than $20 million in sales.RM … [Read more...]
Report and photos by Rick Carey, Auction EditorBarrett-Jackson’s Scottsdale event was so different from years ago it’s difficult to put it in perspective.B-J was once a collector car auction with a big party.Today it’s a bigger party, built around a collector car and affluent lifestyle trade show, custom/collector car auction and multi-day automobilia auction, almost in that … [Read more...]
By Rick Carey, Auction EditorOnce the spiritual home of the Muscle Car, clones, "Resto-mods" and Pony Cars, the Scottsdale auctions are now dominated by great sports cars, Classics and custom cars.The turnaround has been dramatic. Barrett-Jackson returned to its roots with a Salon collection assembled by Gordon McCall that posted curve-setting numbers: seven cars hammered sold for $1 … [Read more...]
Mecum Auctions, Kansas City, Missouri, December 1-3, 2011Report and photos by Rick Carey, Auction EditorMecum Auctions continues to confirm its place at the core of the collector car hobby, assembling a consignment of 839 cars indoors at the Kansas City Convention Center for an early December 2011 three-day Thursday through Saturday sale.What Mecum is accomplishing is remarkable. … [Read more...]
RM Auctions, Hershey, October 6-7, 2011Report and photos by Rick Carey, Auction EditorRM has turned its annual auction during Hershey week into a celebration of old cars and unusual cars.It’s a perfect place to highlight the unusual to the legions of collectors and restorers who’ve spent the week wandering the swap meet field looking for Mason connecting rods and Owen Magnetic … [Read more...]
Barrett-Jackson, Las Vegas, September 22-24, 2011Report and photos by Rick Carey, Auction EditorLas Vegas is the home of glitz and glitter, a place where Barrett-Jackson’s collector car event fits like it was made to order.The three-day event from Thursday through Saturday was assiduously timed to give bidders and spectators ample time to experience the auction excitement, spend … [Read more...]
Bonhams Fairfield Concours d’Elegance, Westport, Connecticut, September 18, 2011Report and photos by Rick Carey, Auction EditorBonhams returned to the Fairfield Concours d’Elegance for its second year and, in common with the concours, expanded to two days with an opening day sale of automobilia and Rolls-Royce and Bentley parts from the estate of Bob Jefferson.One of the Fairfield … [Read more...]
RM Auctions, Portola Plaza, Monterey, California, August 19-20, 2011Report and photos (unless noted) by Rick Carey, Auction EditorRM Auctions pulled off an unprecedented feat at Monterey in 2011, selling five eight-cylinder supercharged Mercedes-Benzes in a single night.They weren’t mundane cars, either – if the term “mundane” can be applied to any 500K or 540K. There were two … [Read more...]
Bonhams & Butterfields, Quail Lodge, Carmel Valley, California, August 18-19, 2011Report and photos by Rick Carey, Auction EditorThe Bonhams Quail Lodge auction during Monterey Week, August 18-19, 2011, was marked by several important transactions.The sale’s top one, the BMW 507 for just over $1 million (with commission) was particularly noteworthy. It was almost exactly the same … [Read more...]
Gooding & Company, Pebble Beach, August 20-21, 2011Report by Rick Carey, Auction EditorThe 2011 Gooding & Company Pebble Beach Auction was a milestone in car collecting, let alone one in collector car auctions.In two evenings Gooding recorded $78 million in sales, 84.25% sold and set the two most important auction records: … [Read more...]
Report by Rick Carey, Auction EditorRM Auctions presented its first auction at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este in the Spazio Villa Erba at Cernobbio on the shores of Lake Como on May 21, 2011. The effort featured a concentrated consignment of elegant and racy cars suited to the elegance of the concours. There were just 32 in total, but they carried a total low estimate of some … [Read more...]
Report and photos by Rick Carey, Auction EditorMecum is the newcomer to the Monterey auction scene.They secured the Hyatt location – abundant greensward for display, a generous convention center for headquarters, food service that parallels Pebble Beach at half PB’s exalted prices, ample (free!) parking on the Hyatt’s fairways – only two years ago.Mecum’s is a different theme … [Read more...]
Report and photos by Rick Carey, Auction EditorMecum in the Middle (Middle America, That Is, i.e., Des Moines, Iowa, July 15-16, 2011)First, let’s be clear: there aren’t many “sports cars” in the Mecum Des Moines auction, but this is Middle America (about 300 miles east northeast of the geographic center of the coterminous United States, in fact) where pickup trucks and muscle cars … [Read more...]
La [Bird]Cage aux …By Rick Carey, Auction Editor"Replica", "re-creation", "tribute", "fake", all describe something that isn't what it seems.This ongoing debate over terminology has crystallized around Mecum Auctions' offering of the Tipo 60/61 Maserati Birdcage using the chassis number 2459 in its upcoming 2011 Monterey auction.Its addendum posted to its Monterey auction site is … [Read more...]
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