Batmobile zaps auction as Ferraris boost $100 million total

Two classic Ferrari roadsters and the original Batmobile were among the star lots during a week of car auctions in Arizona that raised more than $100 million.

The Batmobile sold for $4.62 million as Batman fans and automobile collectors joined the Scottsdale events.

The vehicle from the 1960s Adam West TV show (“Pow!” “Zap!” “Kaboom!”) was joined onstage at the Barrett-Jackson sale by its creator, George Barris, who had previously vowed never to sell it.

Earlier, the two Ferraris sold for more than $8 million each, leading auctions that also included Lamborghinis, Porsches, Bugattis and Aston Martins.

“This is the second-most important series of classic-car auctions in the U.S. after Pebble Beach in August,” Dietrich Hatlapa, founder and managing director of Historic Automobile Group International (HAGI), a London-based independent research company, said in an interview.

The Batmobile was adapted by Barris in 1966 from a Ford concept car called the Lincoln Futura, a bubble-windowed coupe handbuilt in Italy. Though it didn’t carry a formal estimate, dealers said that it might fetch as much as $5 million in a Jan. 19 sale of more than 1,400 cars.

The 500-horsepower custom car has a fake jet exhaust in the back (a painted 10-gallon bucket), a Batphone and two packed parachutes that actually work, used to effect a “Bat turn.”

Bat Gadgets

The Caped Crusader’s cruiser is almost 20 feet (6 meters) long and has controls for various imaginary James Bond-like gadgets on the dash. They include oil slicks, an ejector, rockets, nails and an anti-theft system.

During the TV show, which ran from 1966 to 1968, molds were made from the original and some half dozen fiberglass replicas were created for stunt work and promotional events. In 2007, one sold at auction for $233,000.

Barris calls himself the “King of the Kustomizers” and has made innumerable TV and movie cars, including the “Back to the Future” DeLorean, “The A-Team” van and KITT Trans Am.

A metallic-blue 1958 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spider led Gooding & Co.’s Jan. 18-19 event with a price of $8.25 million, just beating the $8.1 million paid for a dark-red 1960 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta “Competizione” at RM Auctions.

Russo & Steele and Bonhams also held sales.

Price Index

The HAGI index of exceptional classic-car prices advanced 16.1 percent in 2012, said www.historicautogroup.com.

Rising values for the most desirable Ferraris of the 1950s and 1960s was one of the key trends of the market last year, along with a surge in demand for collectable Porsches following the 40th anniversary of the 911 RS model, Hatlapa said.

The Ferrari sold at Gooding was an early production model with Scaglietti coachwork. It was one of only 23 examples with covered headlights and had been estimated to sell for between $5.5 million and $7 million, based on hammer prices.

In August, at the bellwether series of auctions in California, Gooding sold a 1960 “competition” 250 GT California Spyder, formerly owned by the late New England collector Sherman M. Wolf, for $11.3 million against a presale valuation of $7 million to $9 million.

Gooding’s Scottsdale sale raised more than $52.5 million, a record for the company at that venue, with 12 cars breaking the million-dollar barrier. The total was 31 percent up on last year from a slightly smaller 104-lot auction, with 97 percent sold.

Desirable Marques

Prices continue to strengthen for the rarest cars by the most desirable marques, said dealers.

At Gooding’s, a silver 1959 Porsche 718 RSK racer sold for $3.1 million and 1935 Mercedes-Benz 500 K Cabriolet A for $2.75 million. Both results were auction records for those models.

“The macro-economic environment still favors tangible assets,” Hatlapa said. “Though the market dipped a little at the end of last year, demand for classic cars was strong in 2012.” The indexes for both Ferrari and Porsche were up.

The Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta sold by RM Auctions was one of just 74 Competizione-specification SWB examples produced, retained its original engine and chassis, and featured desirable alloy coachwork. It had passed through the hands of only four owners, said the Canadian-based auction house.

RM’s sale raised more than $36.2 million from 84 lots, 88 percent of which were successful, said the auction house. The equivalent event last year tallied $25.5 million.

In all, eight cars fetched more than $1 million at RM. A 1967 Shelby 427 “Semi-Competition” Cobra sold for $2 million and a 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 reached $1.8 million.

A 1965 Ford GT40, the first production road version of the Le Mans racer delivered to the U.K., was one of the week’s few high-profile failures. Bidding at the RM auction stopped at $2.15 million, below the $2.4 million low estimate.

Bonhams raised $12.8 million at Scottsdale on Jan. 17 from 387 lots, 78 percent of which were successful. The top performer was a ruby-red 1972 Lamborghini Miura SV that sold for $1.2 million, against an estimate of $900,000 to $1.1 million.

Muse highlights include Warwick Thompson on London theater, Erika Lederman on London going out and Shaun Walker on the Bolshoi ballet.

--Editors: Mark Beech, Richard Vines.

To contact the writer on the story: Scott Reyburn at sreyburnhotmail.com.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Manuela Hoelterhoff at mhoelterhoffbloomberg.net.