A fine mix of cars including some fine Astons
The RAC Club at Woodcote Park has to be one of the best auction venues in the South of England, although the signage to the event left a little to be desired.
The Concours itself was on a pretty spectacular scale with stalls, wonderful cars and, with this current heatwave, a true feeling of a great summer event.
Up a level from the Concours site was the RM display and sales marquee – every car was presented superbly from the pathway leading from the main building toward the swimming pool, which although indoor, looked inviting in the heat.
There was a good crowd and with fans and air conditioning trying its best, the marquee was at least bearable made more so by a well-stocked bar area. The sale started on time with Sholto Gilbertson taking the rostrum for the entire sale and I am sure there was concern when the first three lots, a poster and two children’s cars disappointed against estimate.
Fortunately, they were not indicative of the day – a 77.8% sales rate was good and there was some startling bidding. The first surprise was a BMW M3 Sport Evolution – a top estimate of £300,000 looked optimistic but the sale price of £355,000 (£404,375 with premium) made it look modest!
The first miss came on 13th lot (unlucky for some), one of several Porsche 911’s in the sale and it was immediately followed by the first Aston, a well-presented Aston Martin DB5 – the registration number DB5 went with the car so it made for a positive impact on model average prices with a sale price of £700,000 (£792,500 with premium). Whether the choice of including the number plate in the sale of the car was best advice to the owner is debatable – with memories of the recent success of JB1 at auction, splitting what was a very nice car and a very saleable number plate would splitting them have delivered a better return? Of course, there are circumstances, for example if the plate was original to the car, that you couldn’t split the plate – but it Is the sort of thing we think about.
Sad to see a car as fabulous as a Lancia Stratos fail to find a new home but a couple of lots later the next Aston Martin, a DB6 Volante made, what in the current market, was a respectable £380,000 on the hammer (£432,500 with premium)
The next Aston was a 2018 DB4GT Continuation – this was a stunning looking car but a long way from an original on the price – bid to £422,000 (£477,500 with premium) it went to a new home, A stronger result came from a rare DB5 Shooting Brake - it didn’t make its optimistic estimate but the hammer came down at £750,000 (£848,750 with premium)
Not long after we saw a Mercedes 300SL fail to find a new home but then we had the first financial bonanza of the sale when a Ferrari F40 ‘Jean Sage’ bid to a stratospheric £3.2 million (£3,605,000 with premium). But there was disappointment for the last Aston Martin, a DB4 Series IV with upright headlights.
After recent sales results, the estimate of £320,000 - £370,000 appeared bullish and so it proved when the car made a top bid of £240,000 and remained unsold.
We soon reached the final lot, a time warp Porsche 1993 Porsche 911 Carrera RSR 3.8 ‘Strassenversion’ with a top estimate of £2,200,000 and with the audience a lot thinner, we don’t think anyone was ready for the bidding war that developed on the telephones which saw the price climb to an amazing £3.1 million (£3,492,500 with premium)
It was so nice to attend an auction with, what is by current standards, modest inventory numbers but of the highest quality – and it wasn’t a sale dominated by the internet or telephones – plenty of strong and successful bids from the floor. The Astons were not generally “bread and butter” models so difficult to judge any market indicators but they certainly held their own in strong company.
For full results follow the link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rzI5v0Ci9wmO85N_9v4w1w1wFlQ8VsT9/view?usp=sharing
© Byron International
