This being Hershey, not Monterey, the catalog for the annual RM Auction was packed with pre-war classics, not Ferraris and similar multi-million-dollar sports cars. Nonetheless, the sale generated $14,074,250 in transactions and a very strong 93-percent sell-through rate.
“We’re ecstatic about the results,” RM car specialist Gord Duff said in a post-event news release.
The sales total was the best for an RM auction in conjunction with the annual AACA Fall Meet at Hershey, Pennsylvania.
“The incredible prices realized demonstrate RM’s proven success in presenting exceptional single-vendor collections within our catalogue sales, with both the Cars of John Moir and the Jeffrey Day Collection exceeding expectations,” Duff said.
“Overall, the results reflect the incredible quality presented, along with our ability to match the right product to the right venue,” he added. “Hershey has certainly topped off what has been a record-breaking year of catalogue sales for our team.”
It was one of Moir’s alphabet cars — a 1930 Cadillac V16 roadster — that topped all sales at $1.1 million.
“I think the original owner of the V16 Cadillac, my grandfather, John Moir Sr., would be very proud and very happy,” said John Moir, son of John Moir Jr., who assembled and was custodian of the family car collection for many decades.
The Cadillac became the “C” car in Moir Junior’s unique A-to-Z Collection of 26 cars, each car with a name starting with a different letter of the alphabet. Overall, those 26 cars sold for nearly $2.4 million, with prices (all prices reported include buyer’s premium fees) ranging from $4,500 for a 1956 Volkswagen Type 1 Beetle to (and we’re excluding the Caddy here) $155,000 for a 1937 Packard Six station wagon.
In addition to Moir’s alphabet cars and a group known as the AC Master Class, the auction featured the expansive 50-car Jeffrey Day Collection of primarily Ford-produced vehicles.
The top sale among the Day cars was a 1956 Ford Fairlane Crown Victoria Skylner “Glass Top” that sold for $165,000, which RM reported as a new auction-price record for such a vehicle, but another Day vehicle sold for even more, though it wasn’t a motorcar. It was an 1860 Abbott-Downing Stagecoach that brought $330,000.
“Selling a family collection is a large emotional challenge,” said Moir. “It’s been a pleasure and an honor to deal with the people at RM Auctions who understand that and who take the care to be emotionally supportive, responsible, and timely, making it a smooth and gratifying experience.”
![The room was full and the bidding was 'spirited] | RM](https://ccnwordpress.blob.core.windows.net/journal/2014/05/image007.jpg)
RM reported not only a full-house audience but “spirited contests both in the room and over the phones.”
Bids came from 17 countries, with more than 25 percent of those bidders being newcomers to RM auctions. A total of 157 vehicles were sold.
Among the auction highlights were the sale for $825,000 of a 1905 Fiat 60 HP Five-Passenger Tourer originally owned by August Anheuser Busch Sr., and, for $522,500, a 1933 Chrysler CL Imperial Dual-Windshield Phaeton.
Top-10 sales, RM Auction at Hershey
- 1930 Cadillac V16 Roadster, $1,100,000
- 1905 Fiat 60 HP Five-Passenger Tourer, $825,000
- 1933 Chrysler CL Imperial Dual-Windshield Phaeton, $522,500
- 1930 Cadillac V16 Sport Phaegon, $412,500
- 1932 Pierce-Arrow Model 53 convertible roadster, $407,000
- 1958 AC Ace-Bristol, $351,000
- 1860 Abbott-Downing Stagecoach, $330,000
- 1941 Chris-Craft 27′ Model 115 Custom Runabout “Runaway Jane,” $258,500
- 1930 Cadillac V16 Madame X sedan cabriolet, $242,000
- 1935 Auburn Eight supercharged cabriolet, $220,000
(Prices include buyer’s premium.)
RM concludes its 2014 auction calendar November 14-15 with the Sam Pack Collection sale in Dallas.
