This five-seater 1912 Oldsmobile Limited was tipped to sell for $1.9m, but raised significantly more. Photo / RM Auctions
This five-seater 1912 Oldsmobile Limited was tipped to sell for $1.9m, but raised significantly more. Photo / RM Auctions
Despite global tales of financial woe, some car collectors seem to be sitting pretty. At a Florida auction last weekend, the Milhous brothers' toybox - a private museum packed with everything from rare cars to musical instruments, antique firearms and a giant custom merry go-round - was sold off fora total of $45.9 million (US$38.3m) - only a shade below the $47.8m it expected to raise.
But the real stars were the cars, as RM Auctions sold a collection that included the only known surviving five-seater 1912 Oldsmobile Limited, which was tipped to sell for up to $1.9m (US$1.1m), but raised a massive $3.9m instead.
Most of the cars in the collection sold at or above estimates.
Paul and Bob Milhous, who made their fortune in the printing industry, housed the collection in a 11,880-square metre museum which was never open to the public.
Aside from the cars, a Mercedes-Benz pedal car sold for $34,542 and a neon sign from a Chevy dealership for $98,419.
The rest of the auction results can be found here.
RM Auctions will run its Grand Prix de Monaco Historique in Monaco in May, including serious classic race machinery and devoting an entire day to the Saltarelli Ducati collection, one of the largest collections of the Italian motorbikes to ever come up for auction.
Notable inclusions are a 1968 Alfa Romeo Tipo 33/2 'Daytona', a 1950 Talbot-Lago T26 GS and a 1948 Ferrari 166 Inter Spyder Corsa.
