Silverstone Festival Sale preview
14 August, 2023
Iconic Auctioneers, formerly Silverstone Auctions, returns to the Silverstone Festival in its 13th year as the event’s auction partner, hosting separate sales for competition and collector cars split over two days from 25 August. Heading the classics on offer is an ex-Tommy Sopwith 1961 Jaguar E-Type Roadster with a pre-sale estimate of £1,000,000 – 1,250,000. Chassis 18 – one of the seven original factory competition E-Types known internally as project ZP537/24 – started life as ‘Lofty’ England’s personal car before joining Sopwith’s Equipe Endeavour racing team. Although predominantly used as their paddock car, it did see action in its first year with the team, Jack Sears finishing second at Crystal Palace and fourth at Snetterton. Comprehensively restored by marque specialists in 2012, it comes with unbroken provenance, its original registration and an enviable collection of documents together with letters from Norman Dewis, Jack Sears and Tommy Sopwith.
Another car with legendary status is a 1998 Subaru Impreza 22B, first owned by Colin McRae. One of three prototypes built, each carrying a ‘#000/400’ plaque, it has covered less than 12,000km from new and is expected to fetch £400,000 – 500,000. McRae’s all-conquering Subaru Legacy RS Group A that claimed the 1992 RACMSA British Rally Championship, with a record six wins out of six, is also set to go under the hammer. Offered direct from the McRae family, it was restored to its 1992 spec and livery some 15 years ago and is listed at £380,000 – 450,000.
A pair of 3.0 S Ford Capris that starred in the hit 1980s TV series The Professionals will be sold as a single lot, guided at £200,000 – 230,000. Driven by the lead characters Bodie and Doyle, the cars featured in 10 episodes and were sympathetically restored in 2021.
Other highlights include a 46,000-mile 1997 Porsche 911 Turbo with an X50 upgrade giving 430bhp (estimate £130,000 – 150,000); a 1973 BMW 3.0 CSL, re-shelled in the 1980s using a CSA body, and more recently restored and upgraded by the current owner at a cost in excess of £100,000 (estimate £85,000 – 105,000); and a 1996 Ford Escort RS Cosworth, one owner from new and only 17,359 miles (estimate £90,000 – 100,000).
A 1989 Ford Sierra RS 500 that carried Andy Rouse to six wins and six pole positions in the 1989 British Touring Car Championship will be offered at no reserve. Believed to have been in Japan for most of its life after its racing duties ended in 1991, it recently returned to the UK where it was recommissioned and repainted in its evocative Kaliber livery from Rouse’s period.
[ Iconic Auctioneers Silverstone Festival Sale – auction catalogue here ]
Classic car auction price estimates for: Jaguar | Subaru | Ford | Porsche | BMW
From: Iconic Auctioneers
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