We know Gooding & Company’s Amelia Island sale always has great Porsches.
Then there was the huge 18-car Seinfeld Collection sale in 2016 that drew attention from far beyond our hobby’s borders.
But what about the other sporting German marques, such as BMW? What of their representation in the last five years?
What kicked this question off in my head was thumbing through Gooding’s catalog for this week’s sale and noting how many later-model BMWs consigned.
It has been a few years since I’ve been to Gooding’s Amelia Island sale, but I didn’t recall many BMWs lining the tent walls. At least not remotely in proportion with the Porsches.
Rifling through past results, I found that in 2016, there was one BMW at the sale and none in 2017. All four BMW lots in 2018 were 1990 and newer. Ten BMW lots joined the 2019 sale, with half pre-1975 and half newer cars. This year, the company has consigned a whopping 18 BMWs, with a year range of 1971 (a 2800 CS and Bavaria) to 2013 (an M3 Lime Rock Park Edition).
It’ll be interesting to see what the no-reserve 1995 M3 Lightweight brings after the market was flooded by Barrett-Jackson selling five of them in Scottsdale under two months ago (averaging $261,500, with a high of $385,000 and two selling at the low of $220,000). The estimate sits at $150,000–$180,000.
I don’t mean to leave Mercedes-Benz out of this discussion, but their representation at Gooding’s Amelia Island sale has been nearly clockwork. Most of the usual seven lots are ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s, with a couple of later ones to round out the catalog. This year appears no different — if it isn’t broken, what’s to fix?