RM Sotheby’s kicked off its 2024 season with a one-day Arizona sale in January that hauled in nearly $23 million. Of the more than 80 classics and collector cars offered, 76 percent found new owners with prices ranging from $2 million-plus for an exotic 2020 McLaren down to almost $50,000 for a 1939 American Bantam.
The annual event at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel, near Phoenix, is always a scene, with a wide array of cars and trucks displayed in a stunning desert setting. This year was no disappointment with something to dazzle car enthusiasts of every stripe: Full Classics like a 1934 Packard Twelve Coupe Roadster that sold for $417,500; ’80s icons like a 1984 Audi Sport Quattro that hauled in $665,000; American muscle that included a ’69 427 Corvette convertible selling for $313,000; and a fleet of Europeans like a 1963 Ferrari 260 GT/L Berlinetta Lusso that was the auction’s second highest sale at $1.35 million.
RM Sotheby’s reported a field of 563 bidders this year—113 of those were new to the event and 203 were first-time buyers at the Arizona auction. Rounding out the top-10 highest sales, behind the number one and two McLaren and Ferrari, was a smorgasbord of the world’s most desirable cars: a ’38 Mercedes-Benz 540K that sold for $1.5 million; a ’63 289 Cobra for $1.2 million; a 1965 Aston Martin DB5 and more.
Hemmings editors Matthew Litwin and David Conwill were on the ground at the Biltmore and provided us with information and some of the photos for this report. For complete results.
