The head of a major auto auction house explains why the Porsche 911 is the next hot collectible

Gooding Porsches

The auction headlines and record prices have been commanded by Ferrari, but Porsche has been coming on strong.
Gooding & Company head David Gooding explained the surge in interest in Porsche 911s.
Gooding & Company is auctioning three important 911s from the collection of WhatsApp founder Jan Koum.

There's no question that for some time now, the collectible car auction market has been ruled by Ferrari. Examples of the Prancing Horse have broken records — last fall at Monterey's legendary motor week, a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO saw a hammer price of $48.4 million.

But here's the thing: There aren't that many rare Ferrari's in the world. So what's a collector to do?

According to David Gooding, head of the Gooding & Company auction house in California, consider Porsche.

There are many more collectible Porsches than Ferraris out there, and one model, in particular, is seeing a rush of interest — the iconic 911, in continuous production since 1963.

Gooding is auctioning an especially interesting trio of air-cooled 911's from the 1990s at the upcoming Amelia Island Concours in Florida: blossom yellow cars from the collection of WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum.

Gooding discussed his business and the surging interest in 911s at auction in an interview with Business Insider:

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David Gooding started Good & Company 20 years ago, and in 2017, the house sold over $150 million worth of collectible automobiles.

According to Gooding, "when he started the business he wanted to present cars 'carefully, authentically and with distinction,' and the results are shown not only in record prices but in a level of trust and respect unmatched in the industry."

Gooding commented on the vintage Porsche market, ahead of the Amelia Island auction this weekend.

"Porsche has very much come into its own," he said, adding that Gooding & Company was the first auction house to "go very strong into celebrating Porsche's marquee period" of the 1960s.

"We started getting some big numbers for these cars," he said. "And competitors started taking a page from our playbook. But we understand the cars."

The auction world has been dominated for years by record-setting hammer prices for vintage Ferraris. But the aspiring Ferrari collector has a problem: severely limited supply.

"Unlike the Ferrari market, the Porsche market is much much bigger," Gooding said.

Gooding & Company has partnered with Christie's, and in February Gooding brought a classic Packard and several Porsches to exhibit in New York.

David Gooding started his career at Christie's, but he pointed out that the house no longer has a car department.

That doesn't mean they aren't interested in collectible autos, however.

"They're interested," Gooding said, describing the relationship as friendly and informal. "They said that they respect the way we do business, and they had gallery space available for us."

He added that is was fun to bring a 1930 Packard 734 Speedster Runabout and a yellow 1992 Porsche 964 Carrera RS to Christie's audience.