A Very Brief Look at Gooding

If you’ve been keeping an eye on the weather out here in Scottsdale, Arizona, then you might have heard that yesterday (Friday) was a significantly better day than Thursday. The showers and thunderstorms that we forecast for the area seemed to miss the Scottsdale area until early evening just at Terry McGean, Jeff Koch and I were getting a jump start at Silver Auctions. Earlier in the day, however, the skies were mostly sunny and the temps comfortable compared to the arctic weather were had been dealing with in Vermont since the fist of the year.

Some brief reports to catch you up on. RM Auctions is reporting $19.6 million in sales from their two-day event, which wrapped up yesterday. Gooding & Company – which hosts their final day of action today, had an astounding 94% sell-through rate yesterday (nearly $15 million in sales), their biggest seller today being a 1956 Jaguar D-Type for $3.74 million.

Over at Russo & Steele, it was initially reported that there was a possibility that they would be able to continue their auction by the evening, however that effort was but to rest until the fire marshal gave the okay – it didn’t happen. Reports then surfaced that it would be business as usual today (Saturday), however they are opening the site for consignors only for a special breakfast, followed by a visual inspection and assessment – one owner per vehicle only. According to their website, they are hoping to have a new docket in place for a continuation of their auction on Sunday, and possibly Monday if all goes well. Silver Auctions continues into Monday as well, but that was their original intent as well. We did a drive-by last night on the 101 loop and noticed that the tents had been removed from the site, except for the one under which the actual auction takes place.

We split us as a team yesterday, so here are a few images from Gooding I snapped while I had a few seconds.

Lot # 104, A 1929 Ford Roadster, was drawing quite a bit of interest; it crosses the block today. According to the consignor, it has traversed the Bonneville salt flats.

A 1965 Lamborghini 350GT – also scheduled to cross the block today – is flanked by a 1948 Chrysler Town and Country convertible.

And helping prove part of its motorsport past, here are two decals that caught my attention on the windshield of a 1932 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Series V Gran Sport.

If the weather stays dry today as predicted, I’ll have more for you later on.