Held on the Friday of the Revival meeting, auctioneer Jamie Knight had to swap helmet and overalls for suit and gavel to preside over a £2.7m sale of classic motor cars and automobilia.
Some of the strongest sellers came from the pre-War category, with the 1928 Bentley 4½-Litre Tourer [below] with coachwork by WH Knibbs & Son going for £146,700, the fabulous Corsica-bodied 1927 Bentley 6½-Litre Tourer for £282,000, and best of all, a 1929 Isotta-Fraschini Tipo 8A 7.4 litre Sport Landaulette finding a new buyer at £298,500. This sold well above its pre-sale estimate of £200,000 – 250,000. A couple of Lagondas raised some high bids too.
Another car that performed well was the 1958 Mercedes 300SL Roadster, selling for £289,700 (estimate £220,000 – 240,000) and catalogued as wanting ‘for nothing, so can be driven away from the sale to a new home anywhere in the world’. Another quality roadster (and often under appreciated) that sold for good money was the 1969 AC 428 Convertible at £70,800.
 1964 Ford Mustang MkI V8 Race Notchback-Coupé - Sold for £43,300 |
 1927 Bentley 6½-Litre Tourer - Sold for £282,000 |
With the Revival being the centre of the world’s best historic motor racing, it was no surprise that the catalogue featured a variety of racing cars for those with budgets ranging from the 1961 Riley 1.5 Historic Racing Saloon (£13,800) to Lord March’s own 1959 Lola-Climax Mark I (£93,277) by way of the ex-Works Paddy Hopkirk 1967 Circuit of Ireland winner, 1966 Austin Mini Cooper S selling fetching a sizeable £84,000.
Two well-executed ‘recreation’ cars did nicely: the 1971 Aston Martin DBR2 for £66,400, and a 1990 Ferrari P4 Replica Sports Prototype complete with genuine Ferrari V12 for £35,600. The ex-Jackie Oliver Ford GT did not sell, and neither did the exotic Italian ex-collection cars from Abarth, Fiat-Abarth, Abarth-Alfa Romeo, and Abarth-Osella, although the 1984 Gebhardt-Cosworth JC843 Group C2 car was a good buy for someone at £52,100, total race-preparation and restoration notwithstanding.
Of the Aston Martins, the ‘James Bond’ 1964 DB5 Saloon sold at market price for £155,500, the 1967 DB6 Saloon doubled its estimate at £49,900, and the 1958 DB MkIII Saloon achieved £78,500.
 1971 Aston Martin DBR2 Recreation - Sold for £66,400 |
 1990 Ferrari P4 Replica Sports Prototype - Sold for £35,600 |
 Ex-works London to Sydney Marathon ‘Landcrab’,1968 Morris 1800 MkII Saloon - Sold for £30,475 |
 1964 Aston Martin DB5 Saloon - Sold for £155,500 |
Prior to the Motor Cars Bonhams sold an extensive collection of Automobilia including the Geoffrey Goddard Collection Part Two, comprising personal photograph albums, books and models belonging to one of motor racing’s best known photographers, who died last year. The 61 lots in the collection sold for £36,570, with the last lot, a personal album of ‘Pictures by George Monkhouse’ estimated at £1,000 - 1,500, fetching £4,370.
Please CLICK HERE to see the full results.
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Bonhams Motor Cars Dept.
101 New Bond Street London W1S 1SR UK Tel: +44 (0)20 7468 5801 Fax: +44 (0)20 7468 5802 Email: [email protected] |
Text - Steve Wakefield
Photos - Bonhams
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