The Conservatoire Citroën online auction, held on Dec 10, has ended with some surprising results. Memorabilia items were sold for high prices, many 2 to 4 times what they were expected to fetch.
Leclere Motorcars, the automobile division of the auction house Leclere, auctioned off a portion of the reserve holdings of the Conservatoire Citroën in Aulnay-sous-Bois for a total of 773,000 € (including fees).
All 155 exhibits found a buyer – a very exceptional result for auctions. 1,168 people followed the auction, which was held live by phone and on the internet at www.drouotlive.com. 621 people had registered as bidders. The sale took place directly in the premises of the Conservatoire Citroën.
Several clubs and members from all over France and other countries, along with some partners, had been invited to attend the event with Xavier Peugeot, chairman of L’Aventure Peugeot Citroën DS, and Alain Thuret, chairman of Amicale Citroën and DS France. They all had the opportunity to experience first hand the emotional mood and the strong sense of community within the Citroën Community.
The one item that commanded big dollars (or should we say Euros) was the driving suit worn by Jacky Ickx in the Paris-Dakar 1991 Rally. It was estimated to sell for 200 – 250 €. The result was 5824 €.
There were the usual Citroën posters and signs left over from trade shows but even two old 60×120 cm workbenches from the d’Aulnay Sous Bois factory sold for 784 € and 896 € respectively when the high estimate was 200€.
The auction proved that the value of some Citroën automobiles is on the rise;
A 1924 TYPE C 5 HP sold for 14560€. Its estimate was 3000 – 6000 €.
A 1953 Traction Avant 11B fetched 14000 €, twice as much as the high estimate of 7000 €. This is encouraging for us as we have been saying for years that the Traction is one of the most undervalued classics.
Really strong demand for the GS and Mehari kept their pricing very high.
A 1973 Series 1 GS with 921 km on the odometer sold for 11200 € with estimates of a mere 2500 – 5000 €.
And a GS Spécial Series 2 with 2078 km went for 13440 € when the estimate was between 2000 – 4000 €
Three 4×4 Méharis still manage to stun the market:
A 1979 Yellow Méhari 4×4 (in very rough condition) but with apparently 14,163 kms, sold for 20160 €. Estimated value: 2000 – 4000 €
A 1979 Green Méhari 4×4 (also in rough condition) with 11,408 kms fetched 24640 €. Again the Estimated value: 2000 – 4000 €.
A 1979 Green Méhari 4×4 in slightly better condition and with oddly the same 11,408 stated kms went for 28000 €. Its estimate was 6000 – 10000 €.
And a 1980 FAF (steel bodied utility vehicle) sold for 21280 € with estimates of only 1500 – 3500 €.
The one car we thought would command a higher value was the 1999 Berlingo Flanerie Sbarro. It was a really cute summer runabout that would be ideal to ferry tourists and with only 26 kms, it was literally brand new! It sold for 10640 € just under the the high end estimate of 11000 €.
Even a 1979 Super Visa (4 cyl) did well selling for 6720 € with an estimate of between 1500 – 3000 €.
A 1961 Ami 6 that looked like a barn find with 17672 kms on it was estimated to sell for between 800 – 1200 €, yet it reached a price of 8960 €.
A 1980 CX Pallas automatic Series 1 with 15220 kms made 13440 €, again much higher than the estimate of 6000 – 10000 €.
The prices paid for more modern Citroëns were also rather healthy;
A 2000 XM 2.5 TD exclusive with 30569 kms fetched 7840 € with an estimate of
3000 – 5000 €.
Another 2000 XM V6 exclusive with 119,500 kms closed at 12320 € beating an estimate of between 5000 – 7000 €.
And a special XM a 2000 model used the for XM’s launch in 1989, showing just 5440 kms sold for 33600 € with an estimate of between 4000 – 6000 €.
Xantias did well too:
A 1997 Xantia Activa V6 with 1,575 kms reached 15680 €. Estimate: 5000 – 8000 €.
A 2001 Xantia Break Series 2 with 25,707 kms commanded 7280 € when the estimate was between 2 000 – 4000 €.
And a few other quirky offerings fared well;
The 1983 Eco 2000 Concept (looking suspiciously like what influenced Honda to build their Insight hybrid) fetched 11760 € when the estimate was 3000 – 7000 €.
The pop-up through the roof rear seat 1997 Berlingo Grand Angle Sbarro fell short of its 7000 – 9000 € expectation at 8960 €. We guess no one wanted to be that weird!
And finally the Citroen’s modern 2010 Tubik Van concept (a non functional model with no interior) managed to surprise bidders going for 36960 €, well over what we thought was a high estimate of 20000 – 30000 €
It’s heartening to see such strong prices for Citroëns when not a single 2CV, DS or SM was on the auction block. And the 64 cars offered were arguably left-overs from the hundreds cars Citroen has amassed in its collection. So the premium prices paid would indicate that properly sorted classic Citroens should still be in demand. Time will tell if the trend continues.
You can view the full auction results here: http://leclere-mdv.com/html/index.jsp?id=88472&lng=en&npp=10000