Auctions Commentary from CCFS Market Analyst Richard Hudson-Evans
A total of £6.8m was spent on classic cars and projects in the Bonhams Beaulieu and Silverstone Blenheim auction tents, where there were buyers for between 70 and 78% of sale entries
Beaulieu’s 50th International Autojumble continues to magnetise hunters of those elusive parts, while restoration cases in and around the annual Bonhams auction tent tempt would-be project managers to get carried away. The top priced challenge at this year’s sale was a part-stripped 1959 Aston Martin DB4 Series 1 that had been abandoned for the last 30 years. With non-matching replacement engine out of, but alongside the lot, the ambitious, but potentially financially rewarding task and a half was taken on by a winning bidder on one of three telephones for £203,100. The buyer’s valuation was not only £23,000 above the guide price, but also more than the £197,500 paid for a nearly restored 1968 DB6 Mk1 Vantage with reportedly light frontal damage repairs.
A couple of the other auctioned classics that were ‘offered for restoration’ were much viewed and keenly contested. For a very high for recent market £64,220 was needed to own a 1974 BMW 3.0 CSL Coupe in rhd that had been last MOT’d in 1996, but was said to ‘run and drive’ – and a 1971 Range Rover ‘Suffix A’ in need of considerably more than a makeover cost the next keeper £23,000, three times the lower estimate figure.
During what amounted to a 78% sold £3.4m Saturday afternoon at the Practical Classics supported event, to which more than 30,000 made pilgrimage this year, a 1953 Mercedes-Benz 300S Coupe, first owned by HM King Hussein of Jordan, but last MOT’d in 2001, made a results-topping £292,700 with premium. While an originally made in 1932 Alfa Romeo 1750 Supercharged that had been accident-damaged in a previous life in Australia, where it had been fitted with a recreated chassis, and subsequently topped with a body beautiful in the style of Carrozzeria Touring’s ‘Flying Star’, sold for £260,000.
Simultaneously in the grounds of Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, very much better dressed and more likely to be more modern supercar obsessed aficionados checked out the eye candy at Salon Prive and snapped up 70% of the suitably groomed steeds on the Silverstone Auctions lot, spending another £3.4m with premium during Saturday afternoon shopping. The grand total from the Beaulieu and Blenheim sales this year was £6.8m!
A 27,000 miles since new in 2011 911 GT3 RS 4.0 in left-hand drive headed Silverstone’s Porsche prices at Blenheim with a £208,125 result, while the most expensive Ferrari was a left-hand drive 1982 512BBi with 9000 mileage sold for £208,000. A UK supplied and much-stored 1990 190E 2.5-16 Evo 2 had just 885 miles on the odo and went for £202,500 to lead the Mercedes prices and Top Cat from Coventry was an always UK 1959 Jaguar XK150 3.4S Drophead sold for £189,000, nearly £30,000 more than forecast.
Although the most viewed Jag in the play pen was the 1973 E Type S3 V12 Roadster that belonged to Boycie of ‘Only Fools and Horses’ infamy and featured in a non-damaging incident during episode two. The one owner from new auto on wires would certainly have impressed Del Boy by raising £115,875 with premium, £30,000 more than the top estimate. “Lovely Jubbly”, indeed!
Other valuations in public auction, which rang my trading bell, were the £171,000 paid for a Type 930 1988 Porsche 911 Turbo driven 30,570 miles by two registered keepers and the £146,250 result of a UK-supplied 356B T6 Super 90 in right-hand drive. The £142,875 handed over for a Texan restored 1968 Shelby GT500 was mighty, too, as was the £69,750 achieved by an always UK 1971 911T with numbers still matching. Although only just below the lower estimate, the £73,125 paid for a previously Citroen Dealer CEO pampered 1973 Citroen DS Super 5 multi-concours winner (with a table load of awards included) was surely rather ‘Super’ for a right-hand drive DS?
Within the Salon Prive up-market corale pitched on the most spacious South Lawn beside the stately home (a pad gifted gratis to the Battle of Blenheim winning Duke of Marlborough by a grateful nation), the 1956 Ferrari Testa Rossa, owned by Bruce Lavachek and David Cottingham, was awarded Best of Show by the Derek Bell led jury in the Chubb Insurance Concours d’Elegance. Three days later, and as judged by another panel of learned judges including Quentin Willson of Classic Cars mag, a big winged Pagani Zonda 760RS flew to the overall win of the Pirelli Prestige & Performance Competition. Over 12,000 ticket holders wore out the manicured turf with their best shoes during this three-day gig at the original Woodstock, which was a new money world away from jumbling for bits at Beaulieu and washing them down with real ale in a New Forest bar.