Auctions Commentary from CCFS Market Analyst Richard Hudson-Evans
An Irish registered 1953 Jaguar XK120SE left hooker that had started life cruising the streets of LA was one of 31 out of the 63 classics sold at the latest SWVA ‘Drive Through’ at Parkstone, Poole, to achieve more than their top estimates during a recent UK auction-stats topping 81% sold sale.
Among a 14 car cache being dispersed, a 1972 Jaguar E Type S3 V12 FHC on wires with manual-box purred past the rostrum to a £38,340 result, over £3000 above forecast. A well below guide £23,220 was accepted for a wire wheel shod 1965 Mk2 3.8 Saloon manual with overdrive on wires Jaguar and an open-top 1927 ChryslerPhaeton 60 in right-hand drive for the Australian market found a friend with a spare £21,600 in Dorset.
An always GB reg 1974 Alfa Romeo 2.0 GTV that had last been on the road in 1989 and restored in the 1990s made £19,980, top estimate money, and a below estimate band £17,550 bought a 1961 Jaguar MkIX with later 4.2 engine and floor-shift auto transmission. A Bentley Turbo S with 51,300 miles of service history cost £16,740 and a 2015 Italian import 1973 Citroen D Super 2175cc with 5-speed box £15,552.
A year before the MGC 50th Anniversary is celebrated, a 1969 vintage C GT with early history lost still raised £14,094 with 8% premium. The best performing No Reserve classic meanwhile - an ex-Northern Rhodesia and unregistered 1935 Railton Straight Eight Special non-runner again without docs - was taken on for £13,824 and the same money secured a 1947 Armstrong Siddeley Hurricane 3-Position Drophead. A better than forecast £13,500 was forthcoming for a 1968 Daimler-fronted Jaguar 4.2 Sovereign auto, a 1966 Rover P5 Mk3 Coupe with column-change auto was given a £11,340 valuation by the next keeper and a 1992 Daimler DS420 State Limo was sold afterwards for £11,340.
The raciest machines to cross the SWVA block were a 1972 MG B GT with twin Weber carbs supplied alloy crossflow head, 5-speed box conversion, 2 helmets, overalls and racing boots from the deceased estate of Robert J Morris sold for £8100 an a 1973 B GT Sebring Rep on Minilites and a single Weber. Whereas the most classic motor car for the money, a 1966 Humber Imperial auto, one of the last made in once Coventry Motor City, was acquired for £2970, and the weirdest, a 1971 Toyota Crown with wooden Pick-Up conversion was picked up for £875. Whilst the oldest Brits to be successfully rehomed in Dorset were a £9288 1930 Austin Seven Wydor and a £9612 1935 Morris Eight with fully working sunroof which is more can be said for most of them. The West Country vehicle auctioneers’ next Friday morning drive-through sale for classics takes place 28 October.
The recent percentages, which monitor reality rather than spin, were therefore 19% Not Solds at Parkstone, 42% of the e-catalogue contents the weekday before at Donington and 30% during the next two weekend days trading at Silverstone Classic. The next public test for prospective market makers will be inside the M25 during the Saturday 13 August all-American Buster Lang Classic Car Show at Sandown Park Racecourse in Esher, where some muscular kit from the US, statistically the toughest sector within the sector to shift to space-starved islanders, goes under the Barons hammer.
Among the Americans for sale is a Really Fast Ford 1967 Mustang GT 500 Eleanor, the last of 50 commissioned from CVS Cinema Car Services in far from angelic LA to promote the movie ‘Gone in 60 Seconds’. With a claimed six miles on the odometer since a back to as-new rebuild, number 50 of the 50 has been pre-estimated to cost a buyer £170,000-190,000.
While another vast automobile with Hollywood connections, this time with some actual on-screen history, is the first generation 1967 Chevrolet Camaro SS employed on celluloid in ‘Fast and Furious Six’ (and no, I never got to see it either!). Uniquely on this side of the Atlantic pond, the original right-hand drive GM Coop migrated to the UK from Australia in 2004, since when it has been in receipt of a £41k+ down to last nut and bolt resto and only driven 140 miles. What is claimed to be the only RHD Camaro in the UK has £45,000-55,000 on the screen.
The American Classics themed catalogue has been wisely topped up with plenty of Brits and a few Europeans, including an Aston Martin V8 with 77,000 mileage since 1978, the final year of Series 3 production, dry-stored for years and guided at £60,000-70,000, and a 1950 Fiat Topolino with patina in search of £11,000-14,000 and a 1959 Lancia Appia at £10,000-12,000.
By far the newest kid crossing the Barons block will be a 2014-built Land Rover FCX Autobiography Edition Defender with all upgrades boxes ticked, including Land Rover Recaro suede-backed racing seats, £7400 full-leather interior and £4900 after-market entertainment system for enduring marathons in the M25 car park. More usefully, the suspension and exhaust have at least been factory-upgraded, though real off-roaders with the £35,000-40,000 suggested may be less impressed with a Bentley grille conversion.
The second Brightwells sale specifically catering for the new wave of ‘Modern Classics’ takes place at the Herefordshire firm’s Leominster HQ Thursday 18 August, when Historics also open the flaps of their marquee at the Brooklands Museum for the first of two full days of viewing preceding their Saturday 20 August sale for the full range of more traditional classics at all price levels. By then, the six mega-auctions in four days on the Monterey Peninsula in California will be closing their alternative investments books for another year and we should all have a clearer view of how the present actually is, if not what may happen next.
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