A Rare, Historic Porsche Racer Leads RM Sotheby’s New German Sale

The 24-year-old actor James Dean died in a car accident, colliding with a college student at a California intersection on the evening of Sept. 30, 1955. The car he was driving was a Porsche, but not an ordinary 356. It was a very streamlined 550 Spyder, nicknamed “Little Bastard” by the race-crazy Dean.

The 550 Spyder was an out-and-out racer, but the kind that owners could register and drive to and from the track in those days. The open-topped Porsche was made for only three years, from 1953 to 1956, and although they were very successful in competition, only 90 were produced. The mid-mounted “Carrera” engine in the 550 had four overhead camshafts and dual ignition. With twin Solex carburetors, it produced 110 horsepower. That wasn’t a lot, but the 550 Spyder was a very light car, just 590 kilograms (1,300 pounds).

An example of the 550 Spyder, from 1955 with colourful racing history, is one of the cars that will be sold by RM Sotheby’s in an auction by Lake Tegernsee, about 40 minutes south of Munich, on July 27. Also on the block is a pair of modern Bugattis, a rare Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Stirling Moss, and a 2006 Porsche Carrera GT. The auction is taking place in partnership with the new Concours of Elegance Germany in Bavaria, held July 22-27.

The only one: This 2010 Bugatti Veyron 16-4 Grand Sport “Soleil de Nuit” to be auctioned by RM Sotheby’s was built for the royal family of Kuwait.
RM Sotheby’s

This Porsche 550 Spyder, with coachwork by Wendler (which also had its hand in the 718 sport racing cars), was delivered to Portugal and competed in European racing circuits. Originally white with burgundy accents, the car was first owned by Fernando Mascarenhas, who achieved class podium positions in races at Barajas and Monsanto in 1955. The 550 then went to Germany that summer for the Nürburgring 500 Kilometers, but the race was cut short because of an accident.

The second owner was Cypriano Flores in 1958. Flores’ son eventually returned the car to Porsche, which did the mechanical work while Wendler restored the body.

Despite the racing, which often results in swapped engines and other components, the 550 still boasts its original chassis, four-cam Carrera motor, and gearbox. The car was restored by Porsche and its original coachbuilder, Wendler, in the early 1990s—and not driven since then. During the restoration, the car’s colour was changed to silver, and the interior from beige vinyl to black leather. The pre-auction estimate is €3.5 million to €4.2 million (US$3.78 million to US$4.54 million).

Also to be auctioned at Tegernsee is the aforementioned 2010 Mercedes SLR McLaren Stirling Moss, a virtually unused example with just 45 kilometres on the odometer. First shown in 2009, it was a tribute to the late racing driver’s win in a 300 SLR Mercedes at the 1955 Mille Miglia.

The auction SLR features a lightweight carbon-fibre structure and a supercharged, 5.4-litre V8 with 641 horsepower. A mere 75 Stirling Moss cars were built, and only offered to customers who already owned an SLR McLaren. Without a roof or windshield, the Moss edition was 200 kilograms lighter than the standard car. It could reach 62 miles per hour in 3.5 seconds. The pre-sale estimate is €3.2 million to €3.8 million.

The modern Bugattis include a 2019 Chiron Sport “110 Ans Bugatti” edition, one of 20. The odometer reads only 1,461 kilometres. It’s estimated at €3.3 million to €3.8 million. The other one is the 2010 Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport “Soleil de Nuit,” a one-off Veyron in two-tone black/blue metallic sold new to the royal family of Kuwait. The estimate is €1.5 million to €2 million.

The 2006 Porsche Carrera GT, one of just 1,270 of these race-derived high-performance cars, is also a low-mileage example in silver metallic with 35,698 kilometres showing. It’s powered by a 5.7-litre V10 engine and could reach 62 miles per hour in 3.57 seconds and had a top speed of 205 mph. This one was supplied to Porsche in Leipzig, and a succession of owners barely used it. In 2001, the Porsche benefitted from a major €27,000 service that included a clutch replacement. It’s estimated at €975,000 to €1.275 million.

Porsche collectors might also want to visit the Bonhams|Cars Quail auction during Monterey Car Week starting Aug. 16. The lots include a one-of-62 1971 Porsche 911 S/T (estimated between US$900,000 and US$1.2 million); and a 1993 959 “Komfort” model, one of six, estimated at US$1.5 million to US$2 million.

AI agents like Muse can already find you the cheapest hotel room in Paris. But they can’t locate a cheaper version of that Catskills cabin you’ve been eyeing, because it might only be available on Airbnb ABNB -1.43%decrease.

Investors should pay attention to that distinction. When Meta Platforms META 3.38%increase launched its Muse agent last month, travel stocks including Booking Holdings BKNG -1.19%decrease, Expedia and Airbnb all fell sharply.

Airbnb, though, has a real chance to emerge as a winner from the upheaval. The catch: Its stock already reflects above-industry growth. To justify its valuation, Airbnb will need to turn repeat customers into loyal ones.

Online travel companies make much of their money by simplifying search and collecting fees on bookings. AI agents threaten that model.

But not all travel marketplaces are equally exposed. Booking and Expedia largely sell hotel rooms that travelers can also book directly or through competing sites. If an agent can find the same room elsewhere, it has little reason to favor either Booking or Expedia.

Booking and Expedia also sell sponsored listings that steer travelers toward particular properties. Wells Fargo estimates those will account for about 8% of Expedia’s revenue and a much higher percentage of profit next year.

Airbnb has more ways to adapt. More than half its listings are available only on its platform, and more than 90% of its traffic comes directly to its app or website.

The customer relationship doesn’t end after booking, either. Bernstein analyst Richard Clarke notes that 90% of Airbnb guests go on to message their hosts about arrival times, keys or local taxes, giving Airbnb a connection to both sides of the transaction.

How the companies have responded to the possible agentic future is telling.

Expedia quickly signed on as a Muse partner. Airbnb hasn’t, and Chief Executive Brian Chesky says AI chatbots have so far been a boon, sending customers to Airbnb’s website.

Chatbots might work for buying paper towels, he quipped at a Skift conference last month, but people enjoy planning trips. He argued that browsing dozens of homes isn’t something a text-based chatbot is well suited for.

Still, the AI jitters arrived just as Airbnb was persuading investors it deserved its pricey multiple. For years after its 2020 initial public offering, the stock—which trades around 25 to 30 times forward earnings—went nowhere. Investors saw a mature operator trading at a growth premium.

This year, Airbnb growth seems to be accelerating. The stock jumped in August after the company raised its full-year revenue-growth guidance with its second-quarter results. Wells Fargo analyst Ken Gawrelski credits a run of product improvements under a revamped leadership team.

Among the changes: letting guests reserve now and pay later, adding hotels, and a redesigned home page and app. Investors were also betting on what comes next, including thousands more hotels, car rentals and, eventually, advertising.

The irony is that some of those growth drivers push Airbnb closer to the kind of business Booking and Expedia run—the kind of business AI agents could threaten. Even if AI agents capture a large share of travel planning and booking, Airbnb would capture the demand. But it and others would slowly lose control over how customers find and choose properties.

That would undermine the advertising opportunity investors are counting on. The bigger point for Airbnb and other marketplaces is that losing control of customer acquisition could mean surrendering some of their pricing power and margins.

To bulletproof itself, Airbnb might look to another e-commerce giant that has so far kept AI agents at arm’s length: Amazon.

Like Amazon, Airbnb has a loyal customer base and hard-to-match supply. But it has nothing like Prime membership to make customers think twice before taking their business elsewhere.

That is where loyalty comes in. Business travelers stick with Hilton or Marriott because enough nights earn them perks. Leisure travelers rarely accumulate stays with one chain. Airbnb has millions of listings and plenty of repeat customers, but no broad rewards program. It has begun experimenting with credits on hotel stays, but it should make loyalty a priority, not just a promotion.

Airbnb also plans to launch its own AI agent next year. But travelers using an agent might still want it to search Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking and hotel websites alike, rather than limit itself to one company’s inventory.

Eventually, Airbnb might have to strike deals with agent makers, using its unique homes as leverage to negotiate favorable terms, says Gawrelski. Such deals, along with rewards for loyal guests, could over the long term eat into the company’s roughly 13% take rate, he adds. But if they bring in enough additional bookings, the trade-off could be worthwhile.

History offers a reason not to panic. The shift from desktop to mobile unsettled investors in Alphabet and Amazon, but both emerged as major beneficiaries. Companies with valuable assets can come out of a platform shift stronger, if they adapt quickly enough.

Airbnb has homes the bots can’t easily replace. Now it needs to give guests a reason to insist on booking them there.

A Rare, Historic Porsche Racer Leads RM Sotheby’s New German Sale

AI-powered travel agents are challenging online booking platforms, but Airbnb’s exclusive listings and direct customer relationships could give it an edge. Its next challenge: turning repeat guests into loyal customers through stronger rewards and innovation.