Richard Hudson-Evans
Although the once David Gilmour of Pink Floyd owned 1988 Ferrari F40 with a fiery past failed to find a friend in this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed auction marquee, 70% of the 86 cars in the Bonhams catalogue did change portfolios.
The £10.26m leader board was headed by a disc-braked 1962 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster with hardtop sold for a mid-estimate £897,500. Also sharing the podium was a 1973 Porsche 911 RS Lightweight in right-hand drive sold for £830,500, again within the guide band, and £779,900 was forthcoming for an over-large for most 1931 Bentley 8-Litre Sedanca De Ville by H J Mulliner.
A princely £550,300 meanwhile, £150,000 more than expected, was required in order to secure a 1914 Rolls-Royce 40/50hp Silver Ghost Open Tourer that used to transport the Maharana of Udaipur in some style. The new going rate at auction for a 1972 Ferrari 365GTB/4 Daytona in right-hand drive meanwhile was £539,100 and an early, but nearly too scruffy 28/50hp Merc from 1911 with Robinson of Norwich Open Tourer coachwork picked up a most respectable £359,900.
Whilst the 1957 Aston Martin DB2/4 Mk2, which became DB Mk3 Prototype that was driven on the 1958 Monte by the BBC’s Raymond Baxter of ‘Tomorrow’s World’ fame, rallied to a £337,500 result. For despite the worst efforts of our Elected Representatives and the Bad News obsessed media, and although 26 cars had to be transported back to their vendors, there were still plenty of big money movers in the lee of the Sussex Downs to cheer up long haul travellers.
The same weekend in sun-baked Monaco, Artcurial offered 122 voitures during a close to five hour session in the Grimaldi Forum and sold 52% of them under the hammer for 8.1m euros (£7.13m), a much raced in the US 1970s Porsche comfortably exceeding the magic 1m euros, while 23 other auction cars changed hands for over 100,000 euros apiece. For the Sunday sale’s top seller, a 1974 Porsche Carrera RSR 3.0 sold for 1,724,000 euros (£1,517,120), had raced at Sebring eight times in the 12 Hours and competed no less than seven times in the Daytona 24 Hours.
The other headliners beside the Med were a Ferrari 458 Speciale Aperta, driven 4200k by one owner from new in 2015, sold for 524,700 euros including 16.6% (£461,736) and a Team Zakspeed triple FIA GT series winning 2005 Saleen S7 R Coupe, that may have an Historic event future, race to a 419,760 euros (£369,389) result. A 2014 restored and Ferrari Classiche certificated 1967 330GT 2+2 made 373,120 euros (£328,346) and a one owner 2005 Ford GT 338,140 euros (£297,563). The going in the tax haven was far from firm, decidedly sticky even, as 59 auction cars were unsold, their reserves too high for current market conditions.