Online Auction Redefined By Saffronart With The Sale Of 1961 Pontiac

Saffronart has successfully brought down the curtain on its 24-hour online auction known as ‘The Gentleman’s Sale’. This sale was a first of the kind sale of vintage and classic cars in India. The Saffronart is the largest auction house of India that provides a platform for selling fine art and jewelry, rare collectibles, prime property, carpets, watches, textiles and classic automobiles. Architected in 2000, this auction house has expanded its horizons as far as Mumbai, London, New York and Delhi through its website. The recent Gentleman’s sale boasted a plethora of luxurious and special edition products in addition to a classic; the auction garnered a lot of attention which boosted up the confidence of the minds behind this auction house who might think of expanding the platform to new categories.

The sale of a 1961 Pontiac Laurentain stole the show at Rs. 13.42 lakh which followed a competitive bidding between new and experienced car collectors. It is extremely difficult to find a right-hand-drive classic model of 1960s Americana and surprisingly the auctioned Pontiac was in the best of condition with all originally manufactured parts absolutely intact. Powering this classic piece is 3.1 liter straight 6-cylinder engine mated to a three speed manual transmission. The 1961 Pontiac Laurentain sports five brand-new Whitewall tyres, absolutely functional mechanical parts and components and an odometer that reads a tad over 50,000 miles. The restoration of 1961 Pontiac Laurentian was beautifully achieved and the buyer was a first-time collector of classic and vintage cars.

For the auction, the car was spruced up with a fresh paint and upholstery following the color theme and styling of the original car; the door pads and the carpets are plush and are on the lines of original color scheme. The car has maintained the electrical system which was a 12 volt system and an alternator has replaced the generator to allow optimum charging of the battery and to admit the extra load that is generated by the inclusion of an air conditioning system.

According to the Co-founder and CEO of Saffronart, Mr. Dinesh Vazirani, the experience of auctioning for the first time a classic car in India was thrilling and the company expects that more customers would participate in car and other auctions after the success of this one. He also mentioned that the company is working on the expansion of its auction platform by intromitting vast and diverse range of products and also Saffronart is trying to reach new customers by tapping into the niche communities of interest. There is a lot of scope for growth in the niche markets and for the first time through this online auction for cars it has happened that publicly available benchmarks for pricing have been established. Pontiacis an iconic brand for cars from America which was founded in 1983 in Michigan as Pontiac Buggy Company. The brand became a division of American General Motors in mid 1920s and was discontinued in 2009-10. Now these cars can only be seen in the films, television shows and songs from the 1960s.

This auction had a concoction of significant collectibles like jeweled accessories, classic cars, limited edition cars and quality items like iPads, mobile catalogues etc. After the 1961 Pontiac the other items that fetched much limelight include a vintage Rolex ‘Padellone’ Self-Winding Triple Calender Moonphase wrist watch which was sold at Rs. 25.35 lakh, a pair of Diamond and Emerald Cufflinks that were sold for Rs. 3.45 lakh, an Oomersi Mawji Silver Sugar Sifter which was sold for Rs. 2.25 lakh and a pair of Ruby and colored Diamond Cufflinks that sold for Rs. 1.49 lakh.