Famed Coachbuilder Bertone Bound for Auction Block

TURIN – The Bertone brand names and logo are going on the auction block, alongside the sports car designer and coachbuilder’s collection of 79 supercars, prototypes and models.

The starting price for the Bertone trademarks is €3 million ($3.3 million), with auction fees and 22% value-added tax raising the total price to €4 million ($4.4 million).

Interest in the Bertone trademarks is difficult to assess. A buyer simply might extract some residual value out of them or perhaps invest in them to maintain and further the brand equity. But history does not favor family names under corporate management; marques including Vignale, Ghia, Francis-Lombardi and Frua disappeared from the scene shortly after being sold by their founders.

Of much greater appeal is the second lot on the block, the 79-item collection recently acquired by Bertone Cento, the company established by Lilli Bertone in partnership with Marco Filippa only to go broke in 2014.

The lot goes on sale for €1.6 million ($1.8 million), with auction fees and VAT leaving the total price at €2.1 million ($2.3 million).

The most valuable vehicle in the collection likely is a ’67 Lamborghini Miura S, as well as three more Lamborghinis: a ’70 Espada, ’87 Countach and a one-off  ’88 Genesis. Also offered are a ’75 Lancia Stratos, ’72 Alfa Romeo Montreal, ’63 Alfa Romeo Giulia SS, ’05 Cadillac Villa, ’84 Chevrolet Ramarro, ’79 Fiat Dino Coupe, ’76 Ferrari Rainbow and a unique lengthened Fiat X1/9 prototype built in 1981.

As the collection is privately owned and not in the public domain, officials have not yet ruled whether the vehicles can be removed from Italy under European Community rules governing national treasures.

The online auction runs from Sept. 14-28.