Classic car hunters go 'berserk' over Gosford auction
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RARE classics from Gosford's now defunct car museum are driving unprecedented pre-auction interest.
Gold Coast-based Lloyds Auctioneers installed a dedicated hotline for the first time as car collectors have been ringing off the hook day and night.
Sought-after supercars like a 1985 Lamborghini Countach 5000 QV, a 1976 Ferrari 365 GT4 Berlinetta Boxer and a 1978 Ferrari 512BB are proving hot property.
Australian classics are also in demand, including a 1980 Holden VC Brock Commodore, a 1975 Ford Falcon XB GT and a trio of Chargers - one a 1971 E38 while another is a 1972 E49 which are both currently fetching about $100,000 more than the original sticker price.
Lloyds chief operations officer Lee Hames said the latest collection had surpassed the much-anticipated Peter Brock Collection auction last year.
"We have never had anything that has lit the phones lines up like this Gosford auction. It has gone berserk,” Mr Hames said.
"It does parallel Brock a little, but we are getting interest from all over the world.
"The phones are running around the clock.”
Northern American buyers are showing immense interest in the high-end Ferraris and Lamborghinis.
The $70 million museum boasted the largest privately-owned car collection in the Southern Hemisphere and became the Central Coast's hottest new tourism attraction with 10,000 visitors through the gates a month.
However after nearly three years owner Tony Denny has pulled the pin, citing irreconcilable differences with the tax office which meant the museum was "left with no alternative but to close its doors”.
"The 1985 Lamborghini Countach that will probably hit a million dollars, and there will be quite a few cars that hit the high six figures into the seven figures,” Mr Hames said.
"The Ferraris and the Lamborghinis have a lot of interest. A good percentage are going to hit the many hundreds of thousands of dollars.
"The Countach is going to be an important car. The Ferrari Superamerica will also be an important car. There are some other of interesting ones in the Australian cars, there are a couple of Chargers, they are up around $100,000 already and they started at $1 two days ago.
"There is a very good Peter Brock VC Commodore, that will probably break an Australian record.
"There are more cars being added every day, and 20 classic motorcycles. In one way its a shame to break it up, in another way its a way lots of people can get into collecting and it might start 40 or 50 new collections.”
Online bidding has started and will close on April 7. Interested buyers can lodge bids in person on-site at Gosford the final day, or by phone or online. There are also specified inspection times on March 23-24 and March 30-31.
"We know there are people uninterested in quite a few cars. There are people looking at five or six cars,” Mr Hames said.
"We have other collectors from around the world that have significant museums themselves so it will be interesting to see how many stay in Australia and how many head overseas.
"There is no real bubble in this market. There is not people horse trading or flipping cars like you see in real estate. Classic cars have shown in the past a great propensity for growth, which is great for the owners because they don't buy them as an investment they buy them because they enjoy that particular type of car.”
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