Sunshine and Room for Optimism
The scale and beauty of Hampton Court Palace is an appropriate place for the collection of automotive excellence that graced their grounds over the past few days.
Great efforts were made by the organisers to respect the constraints of the recent pandemic but little could be done to restrain the enthusiasm of old acquaintances well met nor an edge of optimism about the place.
For Aston Martin enthusiasts, there was a superb line-up of owner’s cars as well as a display of a one-off prototype – the Victor. It set hearts racing and social media alight, one can only wonder why Aston Martin themselves made so little of something that was perhaps reminding the Italian pretenders that a British manufacturer can deliver a real head turner!
And talking of head turners, Anthony Moody’s Wedgewood Blue DB4GT was one of the standout cars in the Concours itself. Well attended, Saturday was rounded off by Goodings first toe in the water of the British auction scene with their “Passion of a Lifetime” auction.
The cars had been displayed in the inner Palace Courtyard and at one stage, we were treated to the roar of the Bugatti Type 35C Grand Prix car being started up as if to prove the original and very deep patina of the bodywork was not matched under the bonnet!
With only 15 lots, the auction provided an entertaining end to the day for spectators who could gather outside the perimeter of the auction area and watch the theatricals of Charlie Ross on the auction rostrum.
As he himself had predicted, he forgot that the bidding was in pounds sterling and consistently reverted to dollars in the bid process but all went well in the end. For followers of daytime TV in the UK, Mr Ross is familiar on antique auction programmes and it was interesting to see how slick the TV production from Goodings appeared. Charlie plays to those cameras but I wish he would maintain the sales pitch with equal vigour.
Fourteen of the fifteen lots found new homes and the bidding on occasion was frantic – lovely to hear £500,000 increments at a car auction again. Sadly, the one car that didn’t make it to a new owner was the Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato – bid to £6.3 million, it didn’t quite make its reserve. The description given of the car was very much about it being well used and, as an unrestored example, the price was probably fair but it probably needed the veneer of newness from a restoration to achieve the estimates.
No such problems with the pre-war Ulster or the customer DB3S and with the latter, it was good to get a clear indication of the difference between a “customer car” and one with real track provenance.
But with a strong sale to end a parade of classic car excellence, one felt on departing a spring in the step and the scent of recovery.
For results in full click on link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q7YJdH0k5ddIjYPPer2tNHswyu0gWRCS/view?usp=sharing
© BYRON INTERNATIONAL
|
Lot No |
Car |
Bottom estimate |
Top Estimate |
Top Hammer Bid |
Sold Y/N |
Price with Premium |
|
1 |
1927 Bentley 3 litre SpeedModel Sports Tourer |
£ 350,000 |
£ 4,500,000 |
£ 300,000 |
Y |
£ 345,000 |
|
2 |
1971 Lamborghini Miura P400 SV Speciale |
£ 1,600,000 |
£ 2,000,000 |
£ 2,850,000 |
Y |
£3,207,000 |
|
3 |
1955 Lancia Aurelia B24S Spider America |
£ 700,000 |
£ 900,000 |
£ 620,000 |
Y |
£ 709,400 |
|
4 |
1934 Bugatti Type59 Sports |
In excess of £10,000,000 |
£ 8,500,000 |
Y |
£9,535,000 |
|
|
5 |
1924 Lancia Lambda 3rd Series Torpedo |
£ 324,000 |
£ 400,000 |
£ 340,000 |
Y |
£ 391,000 |
|
6 |
1965 Lamborghini 350 GT |
£ 400,000 |
£ 550,000 |
£ 330,000 |
Y |
£ 379,500 |
|
7 |
1961 Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato |
£ 7,000,000 |
£ 9,000,000 |
£ 6,300,000 |
N |
|
|
8 |
1959 Lancia Flaminia 2500 Sport |
£ 400,000 |
£ 500,000 |
£ 270,000 |
Y |
£ 310,500 |
|
9 |
1939 Bentley 4 1/4 Litre Cabriolet |
£ 450,000 |
£ 600,000 |
£ 450,000 |
Y |
£ 517,500 |
|
10 |
1928 Bugatti Type35C Grand Prix |
In excess of £3,000,000 |
£ 3,500,000 |
Y |
£3,935,000 |
|
|
11 |
1935 Aston Martin Ulster |
£ 1,600,000 |
£ 2,200,000 |
£ 1,400,000 |
Y |
£1,583,000 |
|
12 |
1924 Vauxhall 30-98 OE-Type Wensum |
£ 800,000 |
£ 1,200,000 |
£ 1,100,000 |
Y |
£1,247,000 |
|
13 |
1955 Aston Martin DB3S |
£ 3,000,000 |
£ 4,000,000 |
£ 2,675,000 |
Y |
£3,011,000 |
|
14 |
1919 Rolls Royce 40/50 HP Silver Ghost Alpine Eagle Tourer |
£ 1,000,000 |
£ 1,400,000 |
£ 900,000 |
Y |
£1,023,000 |
|
15 |
1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante |
In excess of £7,000,000 |
£ 7,000,000 |
Y |
£7,855,000 |
|
