Earlier this month, approximately 150 cars that were discovered in an abandoned barn in the small town of Barkly East, Eastern Cape, went under the hammer and attracted strong international interest.
The collection, part of some 600 vehicles owned by the late Louis Coetzer, a respected figure in the local automotive industry, saw potential buyers from countries as far out as the United States, Germany, Australia, India, Iran, Russia, Greece, and Indonesia register their names.
In total the auction’s marketing campaign reached an audience of over 100 million car aficionados in 17 countries on five continents.
During the 10-day online auction period a total of 2,958 bids were placed on just over 200 lots, comprising around 150 barn-find cars and an abundance of spares and other memorabilia.
On the final day, more than 30 bids per second were received five minutes before closing, triggering a “soft closing” extension that carried the auction time past 22h00 in the evening.
At the peak of the auction, the back-end processing capacity power required for the app platform to keep up with the bidding rate had to be increased 80-fold.
“We were astounded by the response from the international market. We knew local buyers would be immensely attracted to these lost barn finds from such an iconic collector, but the level of global interest exceeded our expectations,” said Kevin Derrick, CEO of Creative Rides auction house who facilitated the sale.
“The auction itself was a huge success – so much that we had to extend the bidding period at the end of the sale because competition for the lots was so fierce.”
The Biggest Sellers
The auction saw the majority of Coetzer’s vehicles find new owners, whether locally or abroad.
The vehicles that achieved the highest hammer prices comprised:
- 1960s Mercedes Benz 220SE Fintail – Sold for R101,000
- 1960s Chevrolet Impala 327 V8 – Sold for R85,750
- 1960s GMC 4000 Flatbed Truck – Sold for R81,750
- 1970s Chevrolet Nova Convertible – Sold for R61,750
- 1970s Chevrolet Nova 4-door Sedan – Sold for R54,500
“These were all project cars that hadn’t been moved in decades and bidding on all of them was exceptionally competitive,” said Derrick.
“Collectors also showed keen interest in Oom Louis Coetzer’s Mercedes collection – even those without engines.”
Creative Rides heralds the successful sale as just the start for classic car auctions.
The online car-buying market size is projected to reach R13.3 trillion by 2030, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 12%, and collector cars are often the very high-value end of this market.
“It’s therefore necessary for us to get South African classic cars onto the international stage, and the way to do that is through technology,” said Derrick.After the massive success of the debut Coetzer Lost Barn Find Collection online-only auction, Creative Rides will be featuring these sales regularly going forward.
It has already planned the next one for June, with many more to come after that.
