McLaren Speedtail and Mercedes 540K Lead RM Sotheby’s $22.9m Arizona Sale

RM Sotheby’s kicked off their auction year with the 26th edition of the annual Arizona sale, held at the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa in Phoenix, Arizona on January 25.

This year’s event saw 84 lots cross the auction block, with 64 (76%) selling for a final total of $22,937,660.

RM Sotheby’s event brought a wide range of consignments to market, and the two top sellers of the event bore that out: a 2020 McLaren Speedtail and a 1938 Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster.

The McLaren Speedtail was number 69 of the 106 examples built, finished in bespoke McLaren Special Operations Liquid Blue Silver over a blue and gray aniline leather interior. The car features blistering hybrid performance: 723 horses from a 4.0L twin-turbo V8 combined with a Formula E-developed electric motor and battery that adds an additional 312 horses. Combined, the powertrain develops 1,035 horsepower and is capable of propelling the Speedtail to 250 mph. The car was as-new and showed just 54 miles on the clock. It was offered under Show and Display exemption in the U.S. — and it led the sale at $2,012,500.

The 1938 Mercedes-Benz 540K started life as a Cabriolet B and was restored with coachwork by Cass Nawrocki in the Special Roadster style, done using patterns and jigs he had used to restore an original 540K Special Roadster. After restoration, the car was awarded Best in Show at the 2013 Forest Grove Concours d’Elegance in Oregon and the Most Glamorous Car at the 2014 Niello Concours at Serrano in El Dorado Hills, CA. Here, it sold for $1,545,000.

Other top performing lots here included a 1984 Audi Sport Quattro that made $665,000 — breaking the previous record for the model by $100,000. A 1963 Shelby Cobra 289 sold for $1,215,000, while a 1957 Porsche 356A Outlaw by Emory achieved $747,000 and a 1965 Lamborghini 350GT made $632,000.

See the complete results here.

Images: Jim Pickering