One person’s junk really can be another’s treasure.
The Junkyard, a collection of classic cars and automobile parts belonging to the late Rudi Klein brought close to $30 million at auction last week. That total nearly doubled pre-sale estimates from RM Sotheby’s, thanks in no small part to a long-hidden Mercedes-Benz 300 SL “Alloy” Gullwing that sold for $9.3 million.
Klein spent the four decades leading up to his 2001 death amassing what has long been considered one of the world’s greatest secret car collections. It’s made up of several of the finest European cars ever built—including the aforementioned Gullwing, a Horch 855 Special Roadster, and a trio of Lamborghini Miuras—almost all of the German émigré and businessman kept hidden away behind the fence and razor wire of a Los Angeles junkyard.
Three forgotten examples of the Lamborghini Miura from the late Rudi Klein’s collection
Patrick Ernzen, courtesy of RM Sotheby’s
Going into the auction, which was held on October 26, it’s clear that RM Sotehby’s had high hopes for the collection. The auction house announced before the sale that it expected the 208 lots to bring in at least $17 millions. They were right. RM Sotheby’s has since revealed that every single lot sold and that the combined sale price came in at $29.6 million, $12.6 million more than the low estimate. The auction house also stated that bids came in from 39 countries and 36 U.S. states, highlighting just how revered Klein’s collection has become over the years.
Unsurprisingly, it was the 300SL “Alloy” Gullwing that brought in the most money. It’s one of just 29 alloy-bodied competition-grade examples of what is one of last century’s finest automobiles that was built. Klein acquired the car from its original owner, Ferrari importer and 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Luigi Chinetti, in 1976 and the car hadn’t left the lot since arriving. It was expected to sell for between $4.5 million and $6 million but ended up fetching $9.355 million instead.
In total, seven of Klein’s cars went for seven-figure sums. A one-off 1935 Mercedes-Benz 500 K Coupe built for champion driver Rudi Caracciola sold for $4.13 million and a Horch 855, a 1939 Special Roadster variant, sold for $3.30 million. The other million dollar cars included 1964 Iso Grifo A3/L Spider prototype (which sold for $1.88 million), 1968 Lamborghini Miura P400 ($1.33 million), 1957 300 SL Roadster ($1.19 million) and a 1962 Porsche 356 B 1600 ‘Twin-Grille’ Roadster. The other two Miuras sold for $967,500 and $610,000 respectively.
