Auctions Commentary from CCFS Market Analyst Richard Hudson-Evans
The 1959 Morgan Plus 4 ‘YOM 798’ - driven by original owners Brian Harper and Peter Astbury on several RAC Rallies and an overall winner of many Nationals in period - fetched £29,700, top estimate money, during a 79% sold £1.31 Wednesday afternoon at Brightwells, an average of £10,796 spent per classic.
The TR3 2-litre powered Malvern-born warrior had been in receipt of a chassis transplant at the Malvern factory in the early 1960s, but had disappeared off the Morgan Club radar for many decades before being repainted in an inappropriate yellow at some time and repatriated in 2015. An apparently well preserved Ford 1600-engined 4/4 Mog in the sale, driven only 13,700 largely local miles since new in 1978 by three guardians, was also well bought for £17,600.
The highest priced of the 121 cars that were hammered away from the 153 offered was a claimed to be unrestored 1978 Aston Martin V8 S3 from nearly 10 years in storage. One of 184 to S-spec with ‘Stage 1’ tuning mods, but an auto with some bubbling going on beneath the screen surrounding Orchard Green paintwork, the 38 year old from Newport Pagnell sold for £82,500, £12,500 more than had been forecast. A £6200 below lower estimate £63,800 meanwhile was accepted for a three-owner 1999 Bentley Azure with weighty electric hood and less than 28,000 miles on the clock.
Of the several barns full of projects seeking buyers with strong imaginations, a reputedly 1939 Monte Carlo Rally exercised and immensely long late model Alvis Speed 25 SC Sports-Saloon by Charlesworth, that had snoozed in a heated garage in Norrkoping, central Sweden, for the last 36 years, but had no documents, was bravely taken on for £31,900, within the guide price band.
A previously Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust displayed Daimler Century Six with a mere 8250 mileage since new in 1996 picked up £27,500 from the next owner-chauffeur, and a multi-award winning 1972 Volvo P1800 ES manual, which had invoices for more than £40,000 on file, recovered £20,240 of it from the buyer, less the Herefordshire firm’s charges of course. The 5th from last GT6 built by Triumph in 1973, which had taken over three years to restore to concours winning standard 14 years ago, was still in excellent nick and fully deserving of £15,620 from the next showman. While a 1968 Ford Cortina 1600E S1 4-Door with rather unlikely twin Webers in a detailed engine bay was also as sharp underneath as it was top-side, and was knocked down for a less than estimated £12,320 including charges.
By far the most unusual items to crossing the auction block here though were a Berkeley Caravans of Biggleswade made 328cc two-stroke powered Micro-Sports, and the one and only 4-Door Saloon to emerge from the Murad Machine Tool Co of Aylesbury. Even though it had gathered dust for many seasons, the 1957 Berkeley SE328 4-Wheeler Sports (even more plug-fouling492cc versions competed in the sub-500cc class of the Liege-Brescia-Liege Rally and the 750GT category of the 1958 Monza 12 Hour) encouraged bidding interest from as far away from Leominster as Australia until sold for £7700. After 52 years of dilapidation, the 1948 Murad Prototype meanwhile could only muster £1320 from someone who will need to re-unite the unique property with its equally unique in-house produced 1496cc in-line four, which is somewhere out there!
The previous weekend, and such is the pulling power of collections, where everything for sale may often be sold ‘Without Reserve’ for whatever is bid, 100% of the contents of the Normandy Tank Museum at Catz were successfully dispersed by Artcurial for 3.71m euros (£3.19m). The next day, in London’s West End, Bonhams sold 99% of lots from the late Robert White’s Collection for £3m to benefit Dorset charities.
And during the Saturday afternoon following the Brightwells sale, where 26 cars were unreserved on this occasion, 28 ‘No Reserve’ cars had also been consigned by CCA for their latest fixture at the Warwickshire Event Centre sale beside the Fosse Way just outside Leamington Spa, where the Silverstone Auctions subsidiary sold 111 of the 150 cars in their catalogue for £1.44m, the sale rate therefore also being a market-encouraging 74% with an average of £12,993 spent per classic bought. More analysis of the movers and prices paid for them in Warwickshire should be in my ‘something for the weekend’ commentary.