Auctions Commentary from CCFS Market Analyst Richard Hudson-Evans
Richard Hudson-Evans
The Goodwood Members Meeting sale saw a number of milestone auction prices paid led by a JD Classics restored 1957 Jaguar Mk1 3.4 Saloon that was driven on the Monte Carlo and Tulip Rallies in period, much viewed by Goodwood punters (snapped above), and which Bonhams sold for £189,660 , nearly £90,000 more than the top estimate.
An Alan Mann Racing BTC and ETC campaigned 1968 Escort Mk1 Twin Cam with works Ford registration ‘XOO 347F’ and a Richardson, rather than Cosworth FVA under its gold painted bonnet broke the £200k barrier to sell for £203,100. Whilst an Impreza 22B-STi displayed by Subaru on their 1997 Tokyo Motor Show stand, the first prototype for their 1988 WRC Type 22B with only 51k on the odo, topped the £200k barrier to make a record-setting £113,500 (plus additional import duties and VAT on everything if it were to become resident within the tax guzzling EU).
From the same deceased ownership as the Mk1 Jag headliner, a similarly JDC prepped Lola T70 Mk1 Spyder, originally raced round the Goodwood track outside the auction tent by David Hobbs in 1965 and subsequently twice a retrospective event winner at the Sussex circuit, also raised a racey £270,300. Captain Malcolm Campbell, who went on to become ‘the Fastest Man on Earth’ and was knighted for his speedy exploits, drove a 1913 Talbot 15hp with very pointy tail in the sale to a win at Brooklands in 1922. Ninety-five years later, the sole surviving Talbot Works Team car (seen below) fetched a very modern £169,500 including premium.
Mary Berry, late of the once Beeb screened Bake Off, was one of several celebs who visited the Bonhams tent to check out the 83 goodies, 78% of which sold for £5.59m. Although by far the longest lot on the menu was a stretched Cadillac presented to first owner, one Donald J Trump, at the 1988 Limo & Chauffeur Show in Atlantic City. Auctioned at ‘No Reserve’ and only expected to raise circa £10,000, the Hen Partymobile finally sold to a telephone contestant playing in Florida for a very Presidential £54,625!
But then £41,400 was handed over for the 1972 Rolls-Royce Corniche HJMPW Coupe that had been consigned by former Top Gear Musketeer and now Amazonian Motorist Show co-host James May. An Alvis TD21 auto with Drophead Coachwork by Park Ward was delivered to Brooklands of Bond Street in 1961 for first owner Group Captain Sir Douglas Bader, the WW2 fighter ace whose bronze statue graces the Goodwood Flying Club lawn. Restored in the mid-noughties, ’27 CLF’ was landed by the next keeper for £91,100.
A previously 2500 hours ground-up rebuilt Bentley 3-Litre Red Label in the sale was almost certainly cosmetically much sharper than it would have been when brand new in 1924. Topped by Vanden Plas style body replicated by Hastings & Hardy with Alan Geator interior trim, the incredibly well detailed Speed Model Tourer was valued by the next owner at £281,500, within the guide band with premium. While XK Restorations of Eastbourne only completed their restoration of a rarer in right-hand drive 1962 Jaguar E Type 3.8 ‘Flat-Floored’ Roadster in January. A successful bidder at Goodwood in March thought a brand new E Type with zero patination was worth £180,700, mid-estimate money.
By contrast, a matching numbers 1962 S1 3.8 Coupe with the newly introduced sunken foot-wells that catered for taller occupants had been stored for the last seventeen years. Even though extensively micro-blistered and ripe for a full restoration, the RHD FHC did magnetise many potential project managers throughout viewing and was taken on for £92,220, more than the top estimate. Whilst a one family owned, 2020 miles from new in circa 1956 Jaguar MkVIIM had been specified with auto-shift for the convenience of the first owner’s wife, who was only newly qualified to drive. Far from pretty in close-up, though with running engine, the dry-stored ‘time warp’ went to a new home for £21,850.
The catalogue cover featured 1961 Aston Martin DP214 at Goodwood wasone of the three known re-creations, that had employed DB4/618/R as a donor and was claimed to be an accurate re-enactment of the only remaining and genuine DP 214, chassis 0194. Although prominently displayed in the auction tent at Goodwood, an offer was made to the auctioneers for the ‘3729 UM’ registered ‘Development Project’ and this was accepted by the vendor just before the sale. The Spa, Donington, Silverstone, Brands, Le Mans, Daytona and Sebring retro-raced DP214 Rep was declared sold therefore and appears on the published results for a premium-inclusive £551,665.
