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An immaculate McLaren F1 sold for £2.5 million last night at RM Auction’s flagship sale in Battersea, London.
The 1997 example of the iconic McLaren – an ex-Park Lane showroom car with just 270 miles on the clock - fetched £1.1 million more than its estimated value. Money experts described it as a sound investment in times when even the banks seem unsafe.
But other rare cars couldn’t defy the credit crunch. The highlight of the show, a short wheel base Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder, driven by Cameron Diaz in the Charlie’s Angels film, failed to meet its reserve, let alone its £3 million estimate.
30 per cent of the 129 lots went unsold. It also emerged that the auctioneers contacted vendors in advance to ask them to lower their reserve prices.
“It's definitely been more cautious,” admitted Max Girardo, RM Auction’s car specialist, “some buyers have been cut out of the market. A year ago, they would've thought about buying a car for £50,000, now they're not being paid a bonus or are worried about losing their job.”
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