Staluppi cars shine at Leake Arizona sale

The highlight of Leake Auction’s innagural Arizona auction was the sale of the John Staluppi Cars of Dreams Collection. While the auction stretched from Wednesday, Jan. 15, through Sunday, Jan. 19, with 357 of 674 overall automotive lots being declared sold for a 53% sell-through rate, the Staluppi cars were only offered on Friday and Saturday. Of them, the vast majority were offered at no reserve, with only one failing to sell.

Staluppi, a prominent car dealer based on the East Coast, established the private “Cars of Dreams Museum” for his collection in Palm Beach County, Fla. He had sold most of the cars out of his original grouping of the collection, but had continued to buy more in recent years to replenish it. A number of these cars have been seen at past auctions, several less than two years ago. Almost 120 cars were chosen to be sold in Scottsdale at the Leake sale. All were good cars, and some were downright stellar and in better condition than when they left the assembly line.

Following is a rundown of some of the cars that crossed the block, showing the hammer price that each one sold for (not including the 10% buyer’s premium on all automotive lots). While there were some record prices, there were also