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Gooding & Company’s Scottsdale auction featured some major cars selling for some major cash – $39,833,900 all told. It was also one of the more successful auctions in recent memory, with only two cars going unsold for not meeting their reserves. Top sale at this auction was a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Alloy Gullwing. Mercedes-Benz built 29 aluminum-bodied 300SL coupes and this is number six. This is as desirable as Gullwings come and it exceeded it’s estimate by $1.5 million, selling for $4,620,000.

Also, somewhat shockingly, every car we featured here on this site from Gooding’s auction sold. The 1930 Duesenberg Model J Disappearing-Top Convertible Coupe sold for $2,640,000, which was the third highest at the sale. Second place went to the 1959 Ferrari 250GT California Spider – a car that Gooding seems to find one of for each of their sales. Where are these things coming from? It brought $3,905,000.

Other million dollar sales included the 1971 Lamborghini Miura P400 SV we featured a few weeks ago, selling for $1,100,000. There was also this matching-numbers 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 which sold for $1,200,000.

The final million dollar sale went to this awesome 1965 Ferrari 500 Superfast which was hammered away for $1,100,000. It’s one of only 36. It has 400 horsepower – more than just about every muscle car of its day – but the shape of it is so much sleeker than a GTO or Mustang. Super fast indeed.

Two cars that Gooding promoted heavily in the lead up to the auction also showed well. There was a brilliant green 1971 Maserati Ghibli 4.9 SS Spyder which split its pre-sale estimate, selling for $880,000.

Also, this 1969 Iso Grifo 7 Liter – one of only 66 Grifos built with the 7.0 liter V8 making more than 400 horsepower. A 1960s supercar in crazy purple paint? Yes, please. It satyed nearer its lower estimate at $352,000.

Another purple exotic was the 1927 Bugatti Type 38A Tourer by Figoni that we featured. It brought a hefty $495,000. Among our other featured cars, the 1967 Trident Clipper V8 was a steal, missing its estimate entirely and selling for $39,600. Our final feature car was an unbelievable 1937 BMW 328 which was well bought for $517,000. Another rare BMW sold there too, this 1958 507 Roadster. While not as good-looking as the car offered by RM across town, it still rang up a hefty $962,500.

Other interesting sales included a 1938 American Bantam Roadster which far exceeded its pre-sale estimate of $35,000-$55,000 and ended up selling for $90,200. Cute sells.

There was also an ultra-rare 1969 Chevrolet Corvette L88 Coupe. The car is a survivor – unrestored in Monaco Orange with less than 18,000 original miles. This was the king of Corvettes in 1969 – the L88 option got you more horsepower than a ZL1. This car was rated at 430 horsepower but likely put out more like 560. It doesn’t play around. And neither does its hammer price of $451,000.

And from the fun-file: this 1963 Volkswagen Beetle Sunroof Sedan – which sounds pretty normal from the name of it. Until you see it:

This car was featured in the film Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo. There are desirable, well-optioned Volkswagens, but people are going to recognize this one. And for $66,000 ($15,000 below it’s pre-sale estimate) it’s going to be a lot of fun. For full results click here.

1971 Lamborghini Miura P400 SV

Offered by Gooding & Company | Scottsdale, Arizona | January 20-21, 2012

Photo – Gooding & Company

The Lamborghini Miura. There is so much to be said about this car – the way it looks, the way it performs, the legacy. This is the P400 SV model, of which 150 were built. It was the last series of Miuras built from 1971-1972.

The 4.0 liter V12 made 380 horsepower in SV form (although Gooding’s website says it makes “85” horsepower, which seems a little low). Performance was astounding for the day and quite capable for the present time. The 0-60 mph time was around 6.5 seconds, which could be bested by a handful of SUVs in today’s world but the top speed of 171 still blows most cars away (if you can keep the front wheels on the ground).

The styling, by Bertone, is like nothing else. The SV is differentiated by its lack of “eyelashes” above the front headlights. Other models featured little slits running toward the driver but the SV has a black, flat headlight enclosure. These cars are so low and swoopy that they beg to be driven – and fast. Look at those tires. They look like they came off a GT40 that just pitted at LeMans.

SV Miuras tend to be the ones you want. Prices have steadily risen over the years and now you’re going to pay $1,200,000-$1,400,000 if you want one (as this is the estimate for this car). It’s simply Italian brute and beauty combined into one awesome machine. Check out more about this car here and more about Gooding in Scottsdale here.

Update: Sold $1,100,000.