One of Rétromobile’s highlights is the grand trio of the auctions taking place at or near the show. The auctions of Artcurial, Bonhams and RM Sotheby’s are a spectacle on their own.
Since the pandemic, both external auctions moved to new locations: RM Sotheby’s rented the Louvre’s carousel hall to showcase its fine selection, and Bonhams moved to an exhibition hall (Grand Palais Éphémère) by the Eiffel Tower. While we found RM Sotheby’s offering more impressive this year, Bonhams also delivered a brilliant selection of exciting cars with the amazing background of the Louvre.
Bonhams returned to the Grand Palais Éphémère for the third time, but they also ensured a smaller presence at the Rétromobile show itself, showcasing upcoming highlights of the 2024 season.
The organisers highlighted a 2004 Ferrari Enzo as their headline car, but there was a charming selection of vehicles from every automotive nation and epoch. We will go through some of our favourites.
The podium featured many other high-end supercars, and in addition to the Enzo fetching over 3.900,000 euros, quite a few cars were selling around or over a million, like the yellow 1969 Lamborghini Miura P400 S or the blue 1981 Lamborghini Countach LP400S Series II.
We also had a faible for the white 2009 Maybach 57 S Xenatec Cruisero, sold for €483,000 and the 1994 Lamborghini LM002, sold for €345,000.
In the same price range, but from a different epoch, the 1951 Maserati A6 1500/3C Gran Turismo with Coachwork by Carrozzeria Pinin Farina was sold for €460,000, and the 1948 Fiat 1100 S Berlinetta Mille Miglia Gobbone was estimated at a similar price range.
Compared to them, the 1957 Facel Vega FV3 Coupé was a steal, for merely €145,000, while the steel blue 1963 Aston Martin DB4 ‘Series V’ Vantage proved more desirable, selling at €253,000.
Bonhams also showcased numerous prewar cars, including some from the the time before World War I.
There was an area with a wide selection of modern classics with all the usual high-end luxury brands.
We wanted to highlight the 1958 BMW 503 Serie II coupé, selling for €120,750, and the Bimmer Batmobile 1976 BMW 3.0 CS/L with FIA Group 2 specs, which did not sell in the end.
There was a colourful grouping of modern-day Aston Martins (mainly from 2010), deriving from the V8 Racing Collection, selling mostly around 50.000 euros. But this corner also featured a few other curiosities like the Mazda Cosmo and of course, another 911.
A corner of the Hall featured a selection of classic motorbikes. Not a speciality of our site, but still, some of them caught our immediate attention, like the 1973 BMW Racing Sidecar Outfit.
The back of this lot featured several microcars to balance the Aston Martins. These include usual suspects like a 1960 BMW Isetta 300, a 1963 Messerschmitt KR200 Kabinenroller, a 1965 Goggomobil TS250 Coupé, and a 1959 Heinkel KR153 Kabinenroller. The creepiest of them all was the 1958 Zündapp Janus 250 Saloon, which had entry doors on both front and back.
Alongside the collector cars, fine art and luxury items were presented, along with jewellery collections, designer handbags, and watches. For more info on the cars (model and car history, owners), have a look at Bonhams’ dedicated webpage.
