RM Sotheby’s highly anticipated auction of the Rudi Klein Collection is now behind us. As the auction house and shipping companies scramble to help winning bidders to collect their lots, it’s a good time to review the results of this well-hyped auction of a storied collection of valuable parts and cars. In today’s Market Monday, I discuss the Rudi Klein Collection Auction results and a number of its extraordinary outcomes.

The number of lots for the Rudi Klein Sale in total was 207, roughly breaking down to 138 parts lots and 69 vehicle lots, 3 of which were motorcycles. As the entire collection was offered at no reserve, the 100% sell-through rate is pretty meaningless. The total dollar volume of $28.8 million was impressive given so many of the cars on auction were non-running or parts cars.

Whether it was the hype, free-flowing champagne or bidding wars, I do not know, but passion and/or persistence prevailed during bidding on Saturday, October 26th. Below, I’ve chosen the top 5 cars that performed best against their market averages, based on my calculations.

4-cam flat-four powered 356s are among the most desirable of the first Porsche. This car was supposedly purchased by Rudi Klein in 1976 and then sat in his collection for 48 years. Painted silver from the factory with a black interior, the car definitely requires some clean-up, but appears generally complete.

While the transmission appears to be a replacement, the car is said to have its original Fuhrmann 4-cam Carrera engine. Matching numbers being generally rare for cars that are 65 years old, they are prized by collectors and bidders seemed to respond to that. This car sold for $885,000 against a market average of $531,046 for similar 356A Carreras.

Built specifically for the noted Formula 1 driver Rudolf Caracciola, this 1935 Mercedes-Benz 500K was supposedly found in an Ethiopian manure pile before being purchased by an American doctor in the 1960s.

Klein bought the car in 1979 and parked it after enjoying it a bit. There it sat until this sale. While it no doubt needs some refurbishment, it’s in remarkable shape. Bidders saw the potential, and the car sold for $4,130,000 against a market average of $1,600,000 for the average 500K. Even considering the provenance, this is quite well sold though it fell short of the high estimate.

One of 5 or 7 ever built, this 1939 Horch 855 appeared in the 1959 film The World is Ours and was driven on screen by noted actor Rock Hudson. It even featured on the movie poster for the production.

Horch was a luxury automobile company in the pre-war period that would eventually become a founding brand of Audi. The cars were built to a high standard by the finest coachbuilders. Restored by Audi as payment for it being loaned to the brand for exhibition, the car has been hidden for 30 years. This sleek beauty sold for a staggering $3,305,000 against a market average of $859,879.

The 356 Roadster was an evolution of the iconic Speedster. Already a rare car, the rarest Roadsters are the “T6” generation of cars built from 1962-1963. These cars were constructed by the Belgian coachbuilder D’Ieteren and are named for their key spotting feature: two cooling grilles on the engine decklid.

Rudi bought the car in 1978 for $18,500, a tidy sum in the day. Supposedly it was rarely driven and is said to have 600 miles on the odometer. This low mileage plus the obsession with “barn finds” likely led to the bidding war I watched during the live stream. That war only ended when bidding reached an outrageous $1,160,000 against a market average of $276,116.

The one car to rise above every other sale in the Rudi Klein Collection auction is not the one you might expect. A car I profiled weeks ago ahead of the auction, the 1971 NSU ro80 Porte 2+2 sold for an incredible $461,500 against a high estimate of $78,400. 

Being one of only 2 of these cars, finding comparables for such a vehicle is challenging. When compared to other concepts, such as the Lancia Stratos Zero, the final result is not that surprising. When you consider that Audi and its origin brands like NSU rarely command big dollars at auction, this is an impressive sale and incredibly well sold.

The cars below delivered impressive results, but were just edged out of the top 5. Given the appeal of these cars, I thought I’d share their results.

One of one, this Giorgetto Giugiaro-designed Italian beauty sold for an impressive $1,875,000. The average market value for a non-prototype Iso Grifo A3/L is $1,300,000, so this actually feels like a bit of a bargain relative to the cars above!

A sale that will no doubt be featured on many blogs and automotive sites is the impressive sale price of one of only 29 aluminum-bodied Mercedes-Benz 300SL Alloy Gullwings. Silver now, it was originally the only alloy-bodied car painted in black over red, making it one of one. The average market value of an alloy 300SL Gullwing is $5,900,000, yet this car brought $9,355,000 including buyer’s premium.

Last week, I chose 5 cars from the Rudi Klein auction that I felt could be good buys for the average enthusiast. Given the prices above, these do represent good buys! Here’s where they ended up after the bidding stopped.

1958 Porsche 356A 1600 Coupe —
1959 Porsche 356A 1600S Coupe — $16,240
1960 Porsche 356B 1600S Roadster — $70,000
1967 Porsche 912 Coupe —
1971 Porsche 911S — $36,400

Opinions on the results of this sale will probably fall into two camps: those who are thrilled to see these pieces of automotive history saved rather than crushed and those who consider the prices paid to be absolute lunacy.

I’m in the former camp, of course. Even though the market has declined over the past year, the market overall is much higher than it was 5 years ago. Consequently, many of these cars have become valuable enough to be worthy of restoration. Hopefully we’ll see some of these beauties rolling out of restoration shops a few years from now, ready to be driven and shown by happy owners.

Wolf and Mare provides car finding, appraisals, and auction services for buyers and sellers of collector European cars. If you’re interested in acquiring an overseas car, give us a call or drop a line!