Records tumble at RM Sotheby's London sale

A 1960 Aston Martin DB4GT lead the way at RM Sotheby’s London sale. The car, one of just 75 factory-built examples, went for a world record £2.4m. It was the night’s biggest seller at an auction that generated £21.7m.

A collection of Porsches generated plenty of interest – making a total of £4.7m in the Battersea Park auction room. Highlights inlcueed a 1995 Porsche 911 GT2, which made £1.8m - a record for a Porsche 911 GT2 at public auction.

A 1993 Porsche 911 Turbo S Lightweight made £974,400 - a world record for a 964 series Porsche 911 at auction. And a 1993 Porsche 911 Carrera RS fetched £716,800 – setting yet another auction benchmark for the model. Finally, a 1995 Porsche 911 Carrera RS Clubsport was hammered away for £403,200 – you guessed it, an auction record for the model.

Peter Wallman, managing director of RM Sotheby’s Europe called the sale a gamechanger. Wallman said, ‘The Porsche Collection generated some remarkable results, however from the evening preview to the sale itself there was an energy that hasn’t been seen in European auction rooms for a little while. 

‘This year’s auction tally is within a whisker off RM’s best ever, peak-of-the-market, London sale totals. We offered cars spanning 117 years and from £5000 to £2.4m, so the sale was representative of almost all areas of the market. 

‘Good cars, well presented with sensible estimates are selling strongly, and that is good news for the market as a whole.’

Away from the immaculate metal on offer in London, the rather less shiny 1967 Iso Grifo GL Series I, which was offered in ‘barn find’ condition, was another notable highlight of the evening. 

With the market still drawn to the idea of purchasing totally original, unmolested machinery, the Grifo presented a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for an enthusiast of these attractive and highly regarded sports cars. The subject of a spirited bidding contest, the car achieved an amazing £128,800 against a pre-sale estimate of £30,000-£50,000.