Records tumble at UK’s biggest ever one day sale of classic vehicles as 80% of entries sell at a packed Brightwells saleroom Brightwells was bursting at the seams on Wednesday 16th July as a huge crowd converged on the 10-acre sales site in Leominster to see over 170 cars and 30 motorcycles pass through the ring in what was thought to be the largest one day auction of classic cars and motorcycles ever staged in the UK. By the end of a gloriously warm and sunny afternoon, an impressive 80% of vehicles had found new homes in a sale which grossed £1.6m. Top price of the day went to an imposing 1930 Lagonda 3-Litre Tourer that had been in single ownership for 50 years and treated to a lengthy restoration throughout that time. Retaining plenty of character and with a well-preserved original interior, it deserved every penny of the £99,000 required to secure it. Equally aristocratic was the beautiful 1937 Bentley 4 ¼ Drophead Coupe that graced the front of the catalogue. Starting off in life as a saloon, it had been expertly rebodied in the early 1990s in the style of a Gurney Nutting drophead and had been in regular use since, including numerous runs to the Continent. Exquisitely proportioned and in fine fettle throughout, it was hotly contested by three determined bidders before being finally bagged for £96,800. Also attracting much pre-sale interest was a wonderfully shabby but mechanically sound 1934 Alvis Speed 20 SB Vanden Plas Drophead Coupe. With just one owner since 1965 and always in regular use, this delightful ‘oily rag’ machine soared way beyond estimate to finish on £50,600 – the new owner now facing the dilemma of just where to strike the balance between restoration and conservation.
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Perhaps the most intriguing car in the sale was a pre-war tourer that was catalogued as a 1935 Nelson Special but had actually begun life as a c.1927 HE 16hp Tourer made by the little known manufacturer Herbert Engineering of Caversham, Berkshire. With just one owner from new until the 1980s, Commander Tom Nelson RN, the car had been rebodied in the late 1930s and fitted with a more powerful 3.6-litre Ford flathead V8. Discovered by the vendor in 1992 in a barn where it had been languishing for many years, it was subsequently fully restored by him. A most handsome and fascinating machine, it more than doubled its estimate before finally going to a London collector for £31,900. Interestingly, Brightwells will also have another HE, a beautifully restored 1929 HE 16/55 Sports Tourer, in their 24th September auction although this will be expected to fetch some three times the amount raised by the Nelson. A pair of pre-war Rovers also did extremely well, a highly original 1935 Rover 12 Sports Tourer making £27,500 while a fully restored 1939 Rover 16 Tickford Drophead Coupe fetched £38,500 – the successful German bidder setting a new UK auction record for the model. Sticking with the pre-war theme, a 1936 Riley Nine Tourer that had started off in life as a Merlin saloon raised a top estimate £16,500, while a museum displayed 1929 DeSoto Model K Roadster romped well beyond forecast to finish on £16,700. Austin Sevens always do well at Brightwells and two examples on offer did not disappoint, a nicely presented 1929 Chummy fetching £13,000 while a charming 1931 Box Saloon raised £8,600. Three of the four Jaguar E-Types on offer found new homes, a highly original left-hand drive 1965 Series One 4.2 Roadster in need of a fresh coat of paint falling to a Dutch bidder for £41,800, while a somewhat scruffy right-hand drive 1966 Series One Coupe with a devaluing Webasto sunroof raised £33,000 and a smart low mileage 1973 Series Three V12 cost £31,900 to secure. With dramatic ‘E-Type-from-the dark-side’ styling, two 1969 Marcos GT V6 models also performed strongly, a race-prepared example in red fetching £22,000 while an ex-Gaydon Motor Museum road car in striking black made £20,000 thereby setting another auction record for the model. A pair of Morgans fetched strong money too, a 1984 Morgan Plus 8 Vitesse in striking Inca Yellow raising £32,450 and a 1985 Plus 4 two-seater with desirable Fiat twin-cam engine making £16,700. Much admired during the viewing was a beautiful 1968 Jensen Interceptor MkI which had been restored to concours condition in the early 1990s and carefully maintained since. Owned by a prominent member of the Jensen Owners’ Club, it soared way beyond estimate to finish on £37,400 setting yet another auction record for the model. Perhaps the most noteworthy result of the day was the stunning price achieved by a 1975 Porsche 911 (930) Turbo. Realistically estimated at £35,000 - £45,000 it became the subject of a fierce battle involving bidders from several different countries in the room, on the phones and on the internet before finally being hammered away to a Dutch buyer for £64,350 proving just how desirable this iconic machine has suddenly become in the last few months. In fact the air-cooled 911 market generally has really taken off of late, a 1989 Carrera 3.2 Coupe with just 50,000 miles on the clock also making £24,200 even though saddled with the stigma of being declared an insurance write-off in 1991. Three MGC models were also hammered away successfully, a lovely 1969 GT which had been treated to a £20,000 restoration some years ago fetched £14,500 (almost £5,000 more than forecast), while a tidy enough GT Sebring-lookalike fetched £9,500 and a somewhat scruffy Roadster from long term storage raised £11,900. The German equivalent, a nice but nothing special 1966 Mercedes-Benz 230SL Pagoda also did predictably well at £46,200 while a bright yellow 1963 Austin-Healey 3000 MkIIa in left-hand drive fetched £29,150.
Another remarkable result was the £20,900 raised by a 1990 Bentley Mulsanne S, this more-than-double-the usual-going-rate-result being explained by the very low mileage of just 8,800 miles and its commensurately exceptional condition. At the other end of the condition scale was a 1973 BMW 3.0 CSL Coupe which still made £16,000 despite being in need of total restoration. One of only 500 made in RHD and only 190 thought to survive worldwide, it could yet prove a shrewd investment. As ever bargains were quite hard to spot but the £7,500 invested in a very straight-looking 1964 Jaguar MkX Saloon looked like a lot of car for the money as did the paltry £4,200 required to secure a fabulously extravagant 1969 Lincoln Continental MkIV Sedan from the Stondon Motor Museum collection. A 1982 Maserati Kyalami 4.9 Automatic from the same museum also looked a canny buy at £11,200 as did a somewhat scruffy but still deeply desirable 1963 Mercedes-Benz 300SE Coupe at just £12,650. The beautiful and stately 1926 Packard 326 Sedan also looked a snip at only £12,650. “We were absolutely delighted with the results of the sale which continued our 80% clearance rate for all three sales so far this year,” said Brightwells’ chief classic car consultant, James Dennison. “With so many vehicles and vendors to manage it was all quite a challenge to organise in the run-up to the sale and we had hired extra staff and printed extra catalogues in order to cope with the many demands of the day but our planning paid off handsomely and everything ran like clockwork. “Our team of three auctioneers took turns on the rostrum to keep the bidding lively and we managed to keep up a sale rate of 40 lots per hour so all was done and dusted by 5.30pm after a 12 noon start. The results speak for themselves – with several record prices achieved and over 2,000 people in attendance, the market for classic vehicles is clearly as buoyant as ever and we look forward to bringing a fresh batch of interesting classics to the market in our next sale in a couple of months time.” To view the results of the July sale in full, please visit www.brightwells.com and click on ‘Classic Vehicles’ or phone 01568 611122. Brightwells’ next sale is on 24th September 2014 and entries are now being accepted.