LONDON, 3 January 2023 - Bonhams Motoring, the auction house's global Collector Cars and Motorcycles division, is firing up for its 2023 season, with the two season-opening sales in Arizona and in France offering $100 million of collector cars.

The Scottsdale Auction, staged on 27 January as part of the annual Arizona Car Week, will present 125 collector cars, headlined by a 2006 Maserati MC12 Corse, the GT1-derived track-only supercar – one of only 12 produced. Other highlights include a 1912 Simplex, a pre-war supercar owned for 25 years by Eleonora Sears America's greatest pre-war sportswoman.

A week later, the Bonhams European calendar launches with the prestigious Grandes Marques du Monde à Paris sale on 1-2 February at the city's Grand Palais Éphémère. Led by a rare Pagani hypercar, the sale will offer an extraordinary selection of more than 140 collector cars across the ages, including a €3 million Porsche turbo collection; a significant Veteran car and motorcycles collection and a Jordan-Ford Formula 1 racing car in which Michael Schumacher had his debut in motorsport's top flight series more than 30 years ago.

The start line at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix which will host a new Bonhams auction in November 2023

Paris will also be the venue for the unveiling of an important early consignment, in the form of a significant Grand-Prix winning Formula 1 racing car, to the inaugural Bonhams sale at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in November, part of Bonhams' new partnership with the Formula 1® Paddock ClubTM. Further details will be announced in due course.

The new Grand Prix sale lines up alongside established world-class Bonhams auctions across the US, UK and Europe in 2023, including the Goodwood Festival of Speed and Revival Sales, The Zoute Sale at the Zoute Grand Prix and The Quail Auction at Monterey Car Week.

Maarten Ten Holder, Managing Director, Bonhams Collector Cars, said:
"Following a busy 2022, we are looking forward to another full calendar, which is off to a flying start with our bumper season-opening sales in the US and France.

"Our 2023 sales span across the UK, Europe and the US, and, for the first time, in the Middle East, with our new Abu Dhabi sale –the result of our exciting new partnership with the Formula 1 Paddock Club."

Bonhams Collector Cars 2023 Schedule

January 27
The Scottsdale Auction, Phoenix, Arizona, US

February 1-2
Les Grandes Marques à Paris Sale, Grand Palais Éphémère, France
Including the Dr. Peter and Ulrike Bühner Collection of Important Pioneer and Collectors' Motorcycles and Motor Cars

March 2
The Amelia Island Auction, Florida, US

April 16
Goodwood Members Meeting Sale, Chichester, UK
22-23
The Spring Sale, Stafford, UK Motorcycles
29
The Two Generations Collection, Newport, US (new sale)

June 4
The Greenwich Auction, Connecticut, US
18-19
The Bonmont Sale, Cheserex, Switzerland

July 14
The Goodwood Festival of Speed Sale, UK

August 18
The Quail Auction, California, US

September 2-3
The Beaulieu Sale, Hampshire, UK
9
The Goodwood Revival Sale, Chichester, UK
29
The Audrain Concours Auction, Rhode Island, US

October 8
The Zoute Sale, Knokke-Heist, Belgium
14-15
The Autumn Sale, Stafford, UK Motorcycles

November 3
The Golden Age of Motoring Sale, London, UK
24
F1 Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (new sale)

December 8
The Bond Street Sale, London, UK

HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2022
Bonhams Motoring hosted a total of 25 sales last year which realised an average 85% sell-through rate,. In Europe, The Gstaad Sale - the first Bonhams auction in the Swiss Alpine resort for twenty years - and the 13th Zoute Sale, which returned its highest ever total of €25 million ($26.4 million), contributed to a particularly strong performance by the Bonhams Eurocars division which increased its market share by 33% in 2022.

Motorcycles
Bonhams Motorcycles achieved another strong result in 2022, retaining its position as the UK market leader, with a total of £6.13 million ($7.36 million) and 95.5% sell-through rate realised across its sales this year.

The department once again consigned several important single-owner collections, notably the Forshaw Collection of speedway motorcycles and the Phil Morris Collection of racing motorcycles and memorabilia which were both white glove sales, 100% sold.

The Market by Bonhams, the online collector car marketplace, successfully launched in the US in March, a year after the platform was acquired by Bonhams. Its impressive North American debut included the sale of several six-figure automobiles, as well as setting a new auction world record in its first month of operation.

The US, UK and European operations of The Market by Bonhams completed 1,461 auctions which realised a total of £26 million ($31.2 million).

Top Ten Cars of 2022
The highest-value car sold by Bonhams Collector Cars last year was a 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder, offered for the first time in 50 years, which achieved $4,185,000 following at the Amelia Island Auction in March.

The top ten in full:

1. 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder, $4,185,000, Amelia Island Auction

2. 2014 Ferrari LaFerrari, €2,558,750, ($2,704,703) Grandes Marques du Monde à Paris Sale, AWR (auction world record) for a European-specification variant

3. 1957 BMW 507 Series II, $2,315,000, Audrain Concours Auction

4. 1938 Bugatti Type 57C Atalante, sold ($2 million plus), The Quail Auction

5. 1955 Ferrari 250 Europa GT, $2,095,000, The Quail Auction

6. 1957 BMW 507 Series 1 Roadster, €2,093,000 ($2,212,523), The Zoute Sale

7. 1991 Ferrari F40, CHF 1,995,000 ($2,130,063), The Gstaad Sale

8. 1929 Bugatti Type 35 B, €2 million ($2,114,374), The Monaco Sale

9. 1969 Lamborghini Miura P400 S, $1,957,500, The Quail Auction

10. 1996 Bugatti EB110 GT Coupé, €1,817,000 ($1,920,739), AWR for the model, Grandes Marques du Monde à Paris Sale

Other notable results included:

2009 Mercedes-Benz SLR 722 S Roadster doubled its pre-sale estimate to achieve £731,800 at the Goodwood Revival Sale on 17 September.

1898 Peugeot Type 15 8HP Twin-Cylinder Double Phaeton which sold for £494,500, becoming the most valuable Victorian era Peugeot, at the Golden Age Sale, London, in November.

1949 Buick Roadmaster Convertible, the 'third character' in the 1988 multi-award-winning road drama motion picture Rain Man, offered direct from the ownership of Dustin Hoffman, made $335,000, setting an auction world record for a Rainmaster convertible, Scottsdale Auction, 27 January.

10 January 2023