After taking a hiatus from its traditional Amelia Island auction in 2021, in favor of a Geared Online event, Gooding & Company will make a highly anticipated return to the beautiful beachfront grounds of the Omni Amelia Island Plantation resort for its 12th live event there on Friday, March 4. A wonderful wintertime getaway for classic car enthusiasts and collectors, Gooding & Company’s auction will highlight a deep selection of choice collector cars, with heavy emphasis on the greatest postwar sporting legends and competition cars. Having said that, several greats from the immediate prewar years are also represented, including an extremely rare 1937 Talbot-Lago T150-C-SS ‘Teardrop’ Coupe, one of – if not the – most beautiful automobile ever conceived. In addition to its obvious beauty, the ‘Teardrop’ is one of the most significant and valuable vehicles in existence, rightly carrying a pre-sale estimate “In excess of $10,000,000.”
As always, the Gooding & Company auction docket for Amelia Island is a study in astute vehicle selection, with a heavy representation of two of the market’s hottest segments – BMW and Porsche. Absolute Porsche racing legends mirror the competition flavor of The Amelia. Among them are Lot 27, a stunning 1959 Porsche 718 RSK – 1 of 34 built as the ultimate upgrade to the 550 Spyder, with outstanding provenance including delivery new to California. Racing history includes 10 class wins and three outright victories in just 14 race outings.
Lot 61, the sleek 1965 904/6 on the Gooding & Company auction docket, is 1 of only 6 built as Porsche’s last true dual-purpose road/race model. First used as a “Works” race car by Porsche, , Gooding & Company’s headline offerings include a highly desirable selection of Porsche and BMW icons from the personal collections of Lloyd Hawkins and the late Rudy Mancinas, well-known to fellow enthusiasts as “Mr. 993.”
Here are some more of the fabulous offerings coming to Gooding & Company’s long-awaited Amelia Island auction 2022 and we hope you will enjoy them as much as we did covering them!
Lot 12, a captivating Ocean Jade Metallic 1997 Porsche 911 Carrera 2S, represents one of the most desirable and engaging modern classic Porsche models. It is quite rare to match as one of only 759 produced for North America in 1997. Offered with a reasonable 68K accumulated miles, it comes from the collection of noted collector Rudy Mancinas. Rare in its captivating livery, the Carrera 2S features a bold and flamboyant presence, suiting its era very well, while delivering an unforgettable driving experience.
Numbered Lot 95, this iconic 1956 Porsche 356 A Speedster is one of the most adventurously styled and pure postwar sports cars ever produced with timeless, avant-garde attitude. The product of a three-year rotisserie restoration by award-winning Porsche marque specialist Cole Scrogham, this Speedster retains its original color combination and comes with over 100 restoration photos and 200 pages of receipts exhaustively documenting its painstaking restoration. The model that cemented Porsche’s on- and off-track reputation in North America, the Speedster is a truly timeless collectible.
Lot 33, a menacing 2005 Porsche Carrera GT, was the planned successor to the Le Mans-winning GT1 of the late 1990s, with development initiated by Porsche’s motorsports division in 1999, but FIA rule changes frustrated its planned endurance-racing use. Nonetheless, Porsche forged ahead with the Carrera GT, repositioned as an elite road model. When production ended during May 2006, only some 1,270 examples were built in all at the new Porsche facility in Leipzig, Germany. Of them, just 644 were destined for America’s rabid exotic supercar market, including this rare Polar Silver ‘Paint to Sample’ car, offered with less than 2,400 miles according to the Gooding online catalogue. Values have roughly doubled over the past decade, making this Carrera GT one to watch at Amelia Island.
Crossing the Gooding & Company auction stage as Lot 24, this 1974 Ferrari Dino 246 GTS is a perennial collector favorite with achingly beautiful styling by Pininfarina and Ferrari’s mid-mounted, F2-derived ‘Dino’ V-6 delivering the power. A beautifully presented, late-production Dino 246 GTS (Targa), it is understood to remain highly original and believed to retain the original paint finish and upholstery, making it a truly compelling find at auction in contrast to so many restored examples on the market. Carrying well-documented provenance and showing fewer than 28K miles, it features the matching-numbers engine as documented by renowned Dino authority, Matthias Bartz, writer of The Dino Compendium.
1959 BMW 507 Series II Roadster
Crossing the auction block on Friday March 4th as Lot 39, this iconic 1959 BMW 507 Series II Roadster, is a coveted late-production example of BMW’s glamorous rare late-1950s roadster. A brief, but brilliant reinstatement of BMW’s prewar sporting heritage, the gorgeous 507 was launched in 1955. Envisioned for the American market by famed European-car importer Max Hoffman to fill the deep divide between the Mercedes-Benz 300SL and the far less expensive and powerful offerings from MG and Triumph. The 507 combined the chassis and 3.2-liter V-8 engine of the 503 with a sensuous body penned by Count Albrecht Goertz, who styled the “Baroque Angel” 503 line. While Hoffman initially targeted a $5,000 price point for the hand-built 507, BMW lost money on each one built and despite a price increase to more than $11,000, the car nearly bankrupted the company. Depending on the source quoted, as few as 251 were built plus prototypes and “one-offs.” This wonderful example remains unrestored, and provenance includes over 60 years of single-family ownership with a file of original documentation accompanies it. While a pre-sale estimate of $2,000,000 – $2,400,000 is listed, it will certainly mark a dramatic occasion when the car crosses the Gooding & Company auction stage and bidding commences.
Pitting 12 of the era’s most competitive drivers from disciplines including Formula 1, SCCA, IMSA, and NASCAR, the original IROC (International Race of Champions) series debuted to a huge audience on ABC Television’s Wide World of Sports on October 27, 1973. Featuring identically prepared cars, the IROC series was organized by the top racing businesspeople of the era, including Roger Penske, Mark Donohue, David Lockton, Les Richter, and Mike Phelps. While Porsche’s 911 Carrera RSR was chosen at Donohue’s insistence for the inaugural 1973–1974 IROC season and modified production-type Chevrolet Camaros for seasons two and three (1974–75 and 1975-76), purpose-built Camaro “silhouette” racecars were used for seasons four through seven (1977–1980). Beginning with 15 “body-in-white” Camaro chassis sourced from Chevrolet, the second-generation IROC cars were prepped by NASCAR legend “Banjo” Matthews in Arden, North Carolina, with suspensions designed and created by Holman-Moody in Charlotte, North Carolina. Racing engines displacing 350 CI and rated 450 HP were supplied by Traco Engineering of Culver City, California. These highly developed silhouette cars were tirelessly maintained in race-readiness by Jay Signore, eventual IROC president. Sporting unforgettable pink paint, this 1977 Chevrolet IROC Camaro is one of the 15 cars built for 1977-1980. Its superstar drivers included SCCA/IMSA legend Peter Gregg, USAC/CART aces Johnny Rutherford, Al and Bobby Unser, Tom Sneva, and Wally Dallenbach, NASCAR legends Cale Yarborough and Bobby Allison, and two-time Formula 1 Grand Prix World Champion Emerson Fittipaldi. Out of 10 races, it earned one victory with Bobby Allison at Michigan on June 17, 1978, a 2nd Place podium on September 16, 1978, with Al Unser Sr., another 2nd with Fittipaldi at Riverside on October 14, 1978, and 3rd at Atlanta with Rutherford in its last IROC race on March 15, 1980. The Camaro continued racing in SCCA Trans Am during 1980-81 after it was sold off by IROC in 1980. History is continuous and documented, including magazine features and a 2013 expert-level restoration. As offered, it represents pure racing history.
Gooding & Company’s return to Amelia Island this year is a long-awaited event and in keeping with the company’s well-earned reputation, this auction promises to be comfortable, casual, fun, and yet classy. As always, the experience will be heightened by the on-stage interplay between David Gooding and auctioneer Charlie Ross – worth the price of admission alone. For further information and details on this great event, be sure to visit the Gooding & Company auction website. I have been in this business a long time, but it is worth mentioning that the cars curated by Gooding & Company’s specialist team is one of the best and deepest I have seen anywhere before; in fact, I will be studying this catalogue for a long time to come. I only wish I could be there in person!
