Another Sub-$1m Carrera GT

January 30, 2023

What a difference a year makes. This time last year we saw four Carrera GTs cross the auction block in Arizona and online with an average price of $1.9 million. 2023? Five Carrera GTs crossed the block this month with one not selling and the other four selling for an average price of $1.2 million. Our lowest sale in January of 2022? $1,545,000. Right about where our top sale this month hammered down at $1,595,000. Sky falling much?

Well, yes and no. If you look at the numbers above and go by average sales price, then it seems like the market took a dump. But let’s look at another average comparison between this month and last January: average mileage. In January of 2022, the average mileage on the Carrara GTs sold was 2,000 vs. a 9,000-mile average this year. The highest-mileage car of last year was right on par with the lowest-mileage car this year. But mileage wasn’t the only issue affecting sales price, the overall quality of cars on offer wasn’t there either.

The Basalt Black 2005 Carrera GT above was this month’s low sale bringing $1,033,500 AFTER Bonhams tacked on their fees, which means this car hammered down for only $935,000. The car has spent time on three continents most recently coming out of a collection in Europe where it spent the last decade on display in a museum. The car also comes out of the collection fully repainted in its original Basalt Black, a new Alcantara steering wheel, steel brakes, and so many questions. Why and when was the car painted? Alcantara steering wheel? And why on earth would you put steel brakes on a museum piece?

This month’s high sale was also a repainted car. Sold at Barrett-Jackson for $1,595,000, this 2005 CGT had 3,300, a full luggage set, and an open checkbook respray in a specially blended PPG Red performed by Karosserie, a very well-established shop in Wayne, PA. Had this been an original Guards Red example with 3,300 miles would we have seen a bit higher here? Possibly.

The final example to sell in Arizona this past week was this 13,000-mile 2005 Carrera GT that sold for $1,252,500 at RM Sotheby’s. Finished in a rare shade of Seal Grey over Terracotta, the car came with a full luggage set and not much more information than that. The price paid was pretty much on par with every other CGT of the same mileage sold this past year.

So while Arizona failed to be a pick-me-up for what we should expect in the market for the remainder of the year, it wasn’t as bad as the numbers suggest. Yes, the market is softer than it was last year, but that softness has a lot to do with the quality of cars on offer. Expect more of the same as the months roll on.