Early Countach Fetches record $1.2 Million

Standing room only crowds packed the Bonhams tent at the 7th annual Greenwich collector motorcar auction with the sale totaling in excess of $8 million dollars-besting last year’s record breaking total by over 40%, with over 93% of lots offered finding new homes. The capacity crowd grew nearly silent as the catalog cover lot, a 1975 Lamborghini Countach LP 400 ‘Periscopica’, sold for over $1.2 million dollars to a bidder seated in the front of the room, beating out over a dozen telephone bidders from around the world, doubling its presale high estimate and rocketing past the previous world record price for a Countach that Bonhams set at its Quail Lodge Auction in August of last year. Another front row bidder triumphed over the competition for a stunning external bonnet latch, flat floor 1961 Jaguar E-Type Series 1 3.8-Liter Roadster, among the first one hundred left-drive E-Types constructed, that sold for $335,500 while the one-of-a-kind 1966 Fitch Phoenix, which was Connecticut’s own late, great John Fitch’s unique road-going prototype, sold to a local buyer for $253,000 with a round of applause from the crowd.

Over one hundred collector vehicles crossed the block in the one day sale, attracting bidders worldwide with nearly a dozen countries represented, competing against the knowledgeable and enthusiastic collectors in attendance. An award-winning 1959 Fiat-Abarth 750 Record Monza Bialbero Coupe sold to a telephone bidder for $203,500 winning against the room, as did a 1959 Jaguar XK150S 3.4-Liter Roadster, also selling for $203,500.