September 2015 - UK auction highlights
19 October, 2015
A 1929 Bentley 4½ Litre, in single-family ownership since 1935 and recently unearthed from a barn after 30 years, sold at Bonhams’ 5 September sale at Beaulieu for an incredible £695,900, smashing its upper estimate of £250,000. Also selling well; a 1927 Voisin C12 Tourer achieved £219,900 (estimate £200,000 – 250,000); a 1964 Jaguar E-Type 'Series 1' 3.8-Litre Coupe sold for an above estimate £113,500; and a 1950 Bristol 402 Drophead Coupe restoration project sold to a British bidder for double its upper estimate at £104,540. Total sales exceeded the previous year at £3.1 million.
Top lot at Bonhams’ Goodwood Revival sale on 12 September was a 1965 Aston Martin DB5 Convertible, one of only 123 examples built, which made £1,087,900 (estimate £1,000,000 – 1,200,000). With a number of Chris Evans’ star cars failing to find buyers the highlight of his collection was the 1963 Ferrari 250 GT SWB 'Alloy' Berlinetta recreation, which sold for £606,300 (estimate £500,000 – 600,000).
A Bentley S3 Continental 'Flying Spur', the car that took Rolling Stone Keith Richards on a drug-fuelled trip to Marrakech, smashed its pre-sale estimate of £400,000 – 600,000, realising £763,100. Don Orosco’s Scarab collection all found new homes. After intense bidding, the 1960 Scarab-Offenhauser Formula 1 (chassis no. 001) sold for £673,500, the 1960-Type Scarab-Offenhauser Formula 1 sold for £328,540, and the highly coveted 1956 Fiat-Bartoletti Tipo 642 Racing Car Transporter sold for £656,700. The 1958-Type Scarab-Chevrolet Mark I, that did not find a buyer under the hammer, was later sold to a European bidder for circa £650,000.
Highlights from the modern collectables on offer included an 800-mile 2005 Ford GT which blitzed its estimate of £150,000 – 200,000, selling for £326,300 and a 2005 Mercedes-Benz CLK DTM AMG that fetched £225,500, again far exceeding its pre-estimate of £130,000 – 160,000.
RM Sotheby’s London sale on 7 September was headed by a 1958 Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta Competizione ‘Tour de France’ which sold for £4,760,000, making it the top price paid for a car in September (estimate £4,500,000 – 5,500,000). With the Ferrari Daytona Spider failing to sell, the second highest sale of the evening was the 1964 Ferrari 250 GT/L which brought £1,232,000 (estimate £1,200,000 – 1,600,000). A single-owner 1992 Ferrari F40 with fewer than 4,000 kilometres from new made £845,000, giving the marque the top three prices paid on the night.
RM reported significant pre-sale interest for their 1964 Maserati Mistral 3.7 Spyder, chassis number AM109/S 035. The 1964 Earls Court Motor Show car, it was sold new to British screen icon, Diana Dors, who had fallen in love with it whilst visiting the motor show. One of only 20 right-hand-drive Spyders built, it made £526,400 to set a new world record for a Maserati Mistral sold at auction.
Further highlights included; a 1995 Bugatti EB110 Super Sport, one of just 33 built, selling for £627,200 (estimate £600,000 – 770,000); a 1975 Lancia Stratos made £308,000 (estimate £270,000 – 320,000); and a 1969 De Tomaso Mangusta, the seventh built and one of the initial prototypes, sold for £201,600 (estimate £170,000 – 210,000). RM’s four-hour London sale generated £16.7 million, with 74 percent of all lots sold.
A 2006 Porsche Carrera GT was the star of the show at Coys’ 6 September sale, held during the annual ‘Porsche Classics at the Castle’ event, selling for £617,800 (estimate £500,000 – 550,000). Other highlights included a 1986 911 Turbo S, one of only 33 built, achieving £146,420 (estimate £150,000 – 180,000), a 46,000-mile 1978 911 Turbo making £68,187 (estimate £60,000 – 70,000) and a 1956 356 Carrera Coupe Grand Sport fetched £580,000.
Top lot at Silverstone Auction’s Salon Privé sale on 4 September was the 1968 Aston Martin DB6 Vantage Volante, one of just 29 examples, which sold for £900,000 (estimate £825,000 – 925,000).
A 43,500-mile 1999 Ferrari 550 Maranello smashed its estimate of £65,000 – 75,000, taking £110,250, whilst a 743-km 1986 Porsche 911 Supersport with no reserve sold for £163,125.
Barons’ 15 September auction saw a 38,000-mile 1972 Alfa Romeo Montreal in need of restoration sell for £33,010 (estimate £21,000 – 25,000). A 1933 Singer Nine Le Mans, originally owned by the well-known racing driver Mrs C G Scudamore, went under the hammer at Charterhouse’s 16 September sale, finding a new home at £10,000 (estimate £12,000 – 14,000).
Star attraction at Brightwells’ sale on 23 September was the two-owner 1962 Jaguar E-Type Series I with 31,300 miles on the clock, which sold for £118,800 to a UK phone bidder. Other highlights included a pair of ‘Fast Fords’; a 1976 Escort RS2000 taking £20,900 (estimate £15,000 – 18,000) and a 1979 Capri 3.0 S realised £17,050 (estimate £17,000 – 19,000). Over 80% of the entries successfully changed hands in a sale which totalled £1.6m.