Things are pretty crook out there in motor land. Luxury car (or what we here call working persons' transport) sales are down, passenger vehicle sales are down 12 per cent and SUV sales are down by 5 per cent in what Chamber of Automotive Industries boss Tony Weber called a "cautious start to the year".
I would call it the canary in the coal mine, the darkness at the end of the tunnel or shooting the albatross. Remember the GFC? In the US new car sales went down like a lead balloon and sales of used cars went through the roof.
No wonder Tony's website features 2017 when "the Australian new vehicle market reached 1.189 million, up 0.9 per cent on the industry's previous record year of 2016" rather than 2018.
En tout cas, rentrer a Paris la ville de la lumiere et des vieilles voitures. Artcurial, Bonhams and RM auctioned $130 million of metal. The three sold 265 classics and like we saw at Scottsdale a serious number, 107, didn't sell and most sales went below estimate.
I bet you guessed most money went to a Ferrari but no, it was a burgundy 1939 Alfa 8C 2900B Touring Berlinetta, sold by Artcurial to a Yank buyer for $30m. And it was a steal. This was a five-owner, one of five built by bodybuilder Touring and I believe even more beautiful than the Bugatti Atlantic.