The Porsche Type 64 that was supposed to fetch $20 million failed to sell after a screwup during the auction over the weekend.
Billed as the "world's first Porsche," Type 64 was one of the showpieces at an RM Sotheby's auction Monterey, California on Saturday. Sellers built up so much hype surrounding the historic car that the vehicle was expected to easily nab a $20 million sale.
However, a gaffe by the auctioneer quickly blew all its chances away.
Porsche Type 64 Auction Mistake
In an article by Bloomberg, the auctioneer reportedly started the bidding at $30 million. After a few moments, the bidding price inexplicably ballooned to $70 million.
The auctioneer later corrected himself, telling the audience that the bids shown on the media screen did not match the actual bids. The bidding started at only $13 million and not $30 million. Ultimately, the top bid for the Porsche was $17 million, not $70 million as initially thought.
The auction for the Porsche Type 64 was eventually terminated after no bids were made above $17 million.
The pricing mistake confused many people in the audience. Some of them expressed their displeasure by booing and yelping, while others walked out of the event.
Johnny Shaughnessy, a collector from Southern California and one of those in the audience, felt disappointed at what just happened.
"What a joke," Shaughnessy said.
"They just lost so much credibility. My father could have bought that car for $5 million years ago. It has been passed around for years, and no one wants it."
Other collectors also had some harsh words for the auction itself and RM Sotheby's.
One collector called the event a "scam", while another commented that the auctioneers "just slit their own throat", possibly alluding to self-sabotage on RM Sotheby's part.
Meanwhile, a third collector said compared the event to the Banksy artwork shredding stunt at another RM Sotheby's auction in 2018.
Representatives from the auction house did not speak to the media right after the event on Saturday, though a spokesperson later sent an email to Bloomberg.
"Despite interest from discerning collectors, we were unable to reach common ground between seller and buyer on the night," the RM Sotheby's spokesperson said.
Not The 'World's First Porsche'?
News articles leading up to the Type 64's auction described the vehicle to be the world's first Porsche, though this fact may be up for debate.
Frank Jung, head of the Porsche historical archives, clarified that the Type 64 that was up for auction was not the first Porsche. The true owner of the title can be found on display at the car maker's official museum in Stuttgart, Germany.
The Type 64's attribution as the first-ever Porsche may have come from the RM Sotheby's description of the car in its promotional materials, which referred to it as "the oldest car to wear the Porsche badge."
Andy Prill, an expert on Porsche cars, was also quoted in the auction house's sales catalog mentioning the vehicle as "the most historically significant of all Porsche cars".
While Type 64 was designed by Ferdinand Porsche himself, it was his son Ferry who had three samples of the car model built for experimentation. However, only one of these cars survived World War II, which Ferry later used as his car.
When Ferry founded Porsche in 1948, he launched the car company's very first model, the Porsche 356 roadster. He brought the 356 to a racetrack in Innsbruck and had Type 64 serve as its chase car.
Ferry later added the name "Porsche" on Type 64 before presenting it at a demonstration. However, the car is not recognized as a genuine Porsche by the car company.
Jung said the 356 roadster that Ferry drove at the Innsbruck racetrack is the true first Porsche.
