Auctioneer: wow, this is truly one of my biggest moments, auctioning off this 90 year old beast of a car Guy putting numbers on board: I'm about to end this man's whole career

He keeps saying 17... Like fifty times, still sounds like 70.

The first time I've seen this auctioneer...probably the last time as well

the bids stopped when they noticed the car comes with the killer from 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' inside.

Next time they should bring in the auctioneer from Storage Wars

Realy, and ppl can hardly buy a sandwich to eat. But ppl can buy buckets of iron for 17.000.000 dollars. What a world.

Wouldn't you kinda, sorta think that clear understandable pronunciation would be - oh, I don't know - somewhere among the job requirements for a verbal auctioneer? Gosh, when I was growing up that was the FIRST thing I noticed: "How can they talk that fast, and still speak clearly?" I think there's a beginning livestock auctioneer in Ruralsville, USA who could have done a better job than this.

Only a $53 Million mistake.....

There will probably be a meme for this

clearly went from 13-17 in increments of 500k. This is the screen operator's misinterpretation.

I would bet the seller is pissed! One minute it was bringing 70plus million, only to find out it never met the reserve....what a screwup, they better find another English-speaking auctioneer....anyone would be an improvement..

Really awful auctioneerinng. What a disgraceful show from a famed auction house. I wouldn't trust RM in the least!

Lol no one was bidding 40-70 million. The car most likely wouldn't have hit the reserve anyway.

Someone might have been dropping a little cold sweat. "I offered 17! Not 70!! I'm ruined!"

I've seen higher levels of competence at live stock auctions. $30 million for a pig, $40 million for a goat.

"Say 17 million one more time." -- Jules

Not the auctioneers fault. The bids steadily increase by increments of 500K, as normal in this price range, not 30 > 30.5 > 40 > 40.5, etc.

That was NOT a “pronunciation mistake” - he clearly said “thirty, forty, fifty...etc. Something very shady happened here- and the buyers got spooked and stopped bidding completely.

Honestly it's partially the fault of the auctioneer, but whoever is running the screen needs about 75% of the blame. How could the price jump by $10 millioin, then $500K, then 9.5 million, then 500K. It makes no sense at all. Either way, what a joke!

How can they have a guy announcing the auction who cannot pronounce "seventeen million". I listened again, and he is leaving off the "teen", so it sounds like seventy million. The auction house usually gets 10% commission, hence this stupid error probably cost the company 2 million dollars in commission in less than 10 minutes.

Not that clear but the mistake was more fueled by the screen showing 70 million. Because he can clearly be heard saying 16 and 17 a few times.

That moment when it becomes apparent there were no actual bidders. He was bringing the apparent bid up to the reserve. Its illegal to pretend the car sold under the reserve when in fact the bid goes on. Disgraceful.

He screwed up right from the beginning by not reacting to the gasping in the room when he declared the opening bid at $13m. Why would the audience react that way at an opening bid so far off its non disclosed reserve? As an auctioneer he should have been able to read the room and clear up any confusion and yet he was so completely unaware. The seller should be furious with this amateur and his employers.

surely a good episode for million dollar cars tv show.

seventy(n) shades of shady auctioneering

Wow :( everyone thought it was going to be the new world's most most expensive car

Talk about depreciation! One second you have a 70 million dollar car, and the next second it's only worth $17 million. The seller's representative must have been $hitting a brick thinking about his commission on that 70 million dollar sale...not so much...downsizing in American...it's real! ;)

Another example of phenomenal sums of money, and iconic items, being handled by organisations representing themselves as top tier professionals, only to experience skills that can be described as 'average' at best.

mmmm.... forget the commotion about 17 or 70 million... there a diverse bidders offering 30,30.500,40,40.500,50 mil..etc... sudden the 17 million bidder gets it!?... only in America.

The initial prize appears on screen as 30.000.000 because the auctioner started pronouncing as thirty since the second time (first time he actually said thirteen), which confused the one in charge of the screen, so he/she then typed 30.000.000 instead of 13.000.000. And most of the time he shortened or skipped the "n" before saying "million" for the other numbers, which worsened the mistake. It was definitively his pronounciation's fault.

The biggest tragedy here is the person seen recording a vertical video.

I think the auctioneer did intend to say "13" "14" and so on, particularly as the bids are in increments of $500k which makes more sense if the bidding is in the millions not tens of millions. However, I can understand how the person controlling the screen made a mistake and wrote as "30" not "13", and so on. I think the error stems from the auctioneers accent, as Dutch accents tend to not strongly pronounce the ends of words as American accents (ie, the "n" in thirteen is much more softly pronounced, so to some other speakers of English, may sound like "thirty"). I am Australian - our accent tends to more softly pronounce consonants at the ends of words than American speakers, so I heard the "thirteen" and so on more easily than perhaps other speakers more attuned to a hard consonant sound at the end of words.

I don't understand! if people were willing to bid 70m why not 17?

Did this particular sale cost RM the famed Bullitt Mustang?

Where did he learn to pronounce his numbers?

auctioneer: 13, increments of 500k, 14, 14 and 'five hundred thousand', 15, 15.5, 16, 16 'five', 17...it says 70 guys it's 17... (pronunciation not optimal but no mistakes) screen: 30 ok 30.5 then. Erm no 40? well 40.5 what? 50? 50.5. make that 60. 60.5. 70 (what the hell, haven't heard of basic math?? What a disgrace)

It's a lot of money to win the Volkswagen Bug Special Coachwork prize at the Concours d'Lemons (unless someone shows up with a Brubaker Box)...

I dont really get it. Why is everyone so angry over this? So they made a mistake... if you wanted to bid 70 million you still can.

Glad it wasn't my car they sold 🤣🤣🤣

Even after the correction, that incredible asshole of an auctioneer kept saying SEVENteen (with the emphasis on seven) where he should be saying sevenTEEN. The confusion wasn't caused by an omitted or inaudible 'n', but by the emphasis on the wrong syllable, something every sixth grader should know, let alone an auctioneer at Sotheby's. They should fire the guy that hired him.

Why the f would they not use a Professional and well speaking acutioneer for this kind of history! A disgrace!

WHO was the auctioneer? Hasn't he been outed yet?

Does this mean that if the initial price had been 30 million, the bet would have arrived at 70 millions? 🤔

Guess, the auctioneer lost a bet. Saying 17 Million times "17 Million Dollars" within one auction

the car went unsold

Era il meccanico personale del fhurer.poi a fine di quella sporca guerra rimase prigioniero in carcere francese dove svelo' molta ingegneria meccanica e li rimase sino a migliore vita.grande ferdinand.

He clearly says 65 65 ladies and gentleman

For a renowned auctioneer, this was a disgrace in every way!

When he only says the number (17) it sounds like 70, but when he says 17 million it sounds like 17 he says it way to fast, more like he short the woord seventeen to sevent'n, with less n in the word, so it sounds like seventy

Cek replica di bengkel indonesia (yumos garage)🇮🇩

17 or seventy million. Doesn't make that much difference to us elite.

Crazy how people still kept bidding even when the auctioneer and the screen showed $70M Does that mean they were actually willing to pay that much????

Plain and simple what a cluster fornication. The seller should be consulting his legal counsel for this complete screw up. I am sure more than one person will find this three ring circus of an auction very suspicious or at least highly irregular.

Who was bidding?

He clearly says "bidding will start at thiiiirrrteen million". Even the camera guy said 13

I like that's man,can increase you money rare way .

How did it got from 70 to 17???

You No Speaka Da Engwish!

I was at this show and all i cant say was that this was the worst mistake of all time period

they did nazi this coming..

Holy hell, what a kludge! I'll be damned if I ever heard even a hint of EEN at the end of any of the numbers, prior to the fix. If an auctioneer can't pronounce numbers in the language he's doing the auction in, one would think it may be a good idea to get someone who can.... or at least put a screen with the current price, right in front of him.

I don’t get it. It was selling hot at 70 million why not keep going w that? Some people have way too much money.

Honestly i don't think this was a scam by Sotherby's to ramp up the price and wait for somebody legitimate to jump in. It was just a major misunderstanding between the screen operator and the auctioneer. However i would not blame the screen operator he was probably just as clueless as the bidders. Sure the auctioneer said increments of 500k but his pronounciation was just way off. It was all very confusing.

A room of people that cause company collapses and recessions, casually throwing money away..

Elevoon!! I said Elevooon! Come on stupid elevator!!

70 million dollars but the owner what's more. 😂

Very very poor PA set up. the sound is very unclear and his mistake should have been corrected straight away .

He said Seven-Zero, he separated the digits, and said SEVEN ZERO. The screen operator is a giant goob!!

Why is everyone annoyed over a typo? Of the bidders were bidding 70 mil they still can. Otherwise they knew what it was.

70ty or 17teen......

Why didn't they get somebody that could speak proper English

well ...think somthing else went wrong.. I hear what I hear, and it ain't 17....

It sounded like he was saying 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, so I was confused as to why they were displaying 30, 40, 50, 60, 70. I think the problem was with whoever was operating the A/V setup, not the emcee.

Where is he from. That's the most fucked up auctioneer access I've ever heard

Well. New Job?

Zimbabwe Dollars..

WTF! 13 or 30

I think it could have been clear to anyone that if all the bids where increasing in 500k marks that the NEW number would be 17 milions and NOT 70 milions. All in one it would be always easier to get corrected by the bidder that it was 70 and not 17 and it could be corrected at any time easy as the opposite is not possible and we all can see the result. I am no professional so I can make a mistake like this but Sotheby's should be on top of that. However if someone else would be willing to offer 71 milions after that then it would maybe slide without anyone really noticing.

At least around here, when we say “seventeen,” we put the accent on the last syllable. When were saying “seventy,” the accent is on the first syllable. This guy keeps trying to say 17, but drops the emphasis by the end of the word. That’s never going to work.

Иногда мне снятся сны с такими округлыми, "допотопными" автобусами или вагонами метро. Тесными внутри и очень уютными. Этот Porshe как воплощение из моих снов. Плавный дизайн 1940-50-60 годов. Что-то из детства. Как коромысло от старого проигрывателя виниловых пластинок. Сюрреалистическое и личное переживание.

It was not a mistake i believe))

What a mess. Around the 4 minute mark i heard 70 billion.

I am mystified. Ok the Auctioneer is bad. That said, once the screen corrected from 58 Mil to 17 mil, where did the Bidders go who said 40 mil, 50 mil??? Surely they could have come back in at 18Mil

الله ارزاق 👍🏻😞

They should be sued!!!

Hi Sean, I work at CNBC -- can we use this video? If yes, please let me know how you'd like to be credited. Thank you!

One of The biggest auction flop in history i’d say

What a shame, the guy just doesn't say teen correctly. I wonder if RM will be sued over this?

In 1984 I was 70 years old, now I must be.... 105????? Nah.... :)

They are like f**k recession

Well at least he caught it and had it corrected but damn his ass should be fired, that accent is no good for an auctioneer!

Hi Sean, we are a video news agency based in Hamburg, Germany. Can we use the footage with credits? You can reach us at redaktion_[at]_bitprojects.de Thanks!

This sounds like a deliberate attempt to scam 53 million. 6:04 "...car was brought all the way up here its here its gorgeous..." 6:49 the pronunciation of seventeen is weak but completely switches to seventy after the hammer drops.

TERRIBLE pronounciation, but very clear asking for 500k. The biggest problem was clearly the screen

Not only is the auctioneers pronunciation unclear and inconsistent, he thinks 'pronounciation' is a word.

No one was actually seriously bidding on the car. The bids you were hearing were made by a strawman who was trying to drive up the car's value and hoping that an outside bidder would outbid him. How is this legal you ask? It's not, but the fine for strawbids in California is pathetically low.

A totally unprofessional call by the auctioneer. Unclear. Confusing. Holding bids too long. And three times delaying the final hammer.

The same guy starts the auction at 30 million and gets several people to bid all the way up to 70 million and he can't ever figure out the math at what he did? What kind of idiot was the auctioneer ?

Here's an idea- if you're going to conduct your auction in America, and the language you choose to conduct the auction is English, maybe try hiring a guy who actually speaks English?

it clearly sounded like he said 30.. 40.. 70 and then changed it to 17, did not seem like an accent problem