With the roads to Leominster lined with daffodils and the clocks set forward to British Summer Time, there was a real buzz in the air for the Brightwells 1st April auction with an amazingly diverse collection of classic machinery on offer spanning every decade of the 20th Century and beyond, some real rarities among them. By the time the day was done, 130 of the 181 Lots on offer had been successfully sold for a total of £1.12m giving a clearance rate of 72%.
Top price of the day went to a very smart 1967 Jaguar E-Type 4.2 Coupe, a matching numbers UK car which had only covered around 2,500 miles since it was restored in the 1990s. It was snapped up for £59,360 which seems to be about the going rate for good, usable examples of first Series E-Types in the current market. An equally smart 1972 Jaguar E-Type S3 V12 Coupe with a Webasto sunroof and manual gearbox also found a buyer at a whisker under £32,000.
Aston Martins were well-represented with all five on offer finding new homes. Most appealing to the gamblers among us was an attractively estimated LHD 1988 Aston Martin V8 Volante Convertible with under 94,000 kms on the clock but ugly American-spec bumpers and a suspected ignition system fault which rendered it a non-runner. Provided that fortune does indeed favour the brave, the £47,820 paid could yet make it the bargain of the sale, this being a model that has been known to fetch well over double that amount in the past. A very presentable 1995 Aston Martin Virage Volante with 90k mileage and attractive Spruce Green paintwork but a slightly sporadic service history fetched a market correct £47,040.
Attracting by far the most attention though, was a rare and striking 1984 Aston Martin Lagonda Series 2 with 77k miles on the clock and, crucially, the digital dashboard working as it should. The tempting £23k reserve attracted plenty of bidders and it romped to a well-deserved £33,820 result. The two more modern Astons, a 2008 Vantage V8 Manual Convertible with 77k miles and a 2006 DB9 Volante V12 Auto with 43k miles fetched £15,680 and £16,800 respectively.
Air-cooled Porsche 911s have generally held up well in a somewhat turbulent market but, as with all the more modern classics, are very mileage-sensitive. A very presentable 1995 Carrera 4 993 with a few minor cosmetic defects here and there and rather leggy 160k mileage still raised a whisker under £46k, an excellent result no doubt helped by the 15-stamp service history and desirable options such as Sports hardback seats, Sports suspension, aftermarket sports exhaust and six-speed manual gearbox.
Much has been written about the decline in demand for pre-war cars, but it seems there are still plenty of buyers out there provided they are pitched at a sensible level. Of the 15 on offer, all but one were successfully sold, top price going to a spectacular 1939 Sunbeam-Talbot 3-Litre Sports Saloon. One of only two known to survive and upgraded to a 4-Litre engine, it had been restored to concours standard at a cost of over £75,000 and deserved every penny of the £31,140 required to secure it.
Equally good was a gorgeous 1935 Lagonda Rapier which had started out in life as an Abbott-bodied fixed-head coupe but had been expertly restored some 15 years ago and fitted with Ranalah open tourer coachwork. A most usable car eligible for many historic events, it found a willing buyer at £28,000.
An extremely rare 1934 Austin Seven Type75/Speedy, believed to be one of only eight surviving examples, was snapped up for £18,700. A 1933 Rolls-Royce 20/25 Park Ward Saloon with an interesting history (including being owned by a member of the Rolls family after the war) fetched a creditable £16,800. A rare and unusually smart 1931 Ford Model A Fordor DeLuxe Sedan with a lovely original interior flew well beyond its £8k reserve to finish on £14,340.
A wonderfully eccentric 1937 Lancia Aprilia that had been lightly modified for competition use at a cost of around £25k looked like a great buy at £13,450 and is now on its way to a new home in The Netherlands. Perhaps the most interesting of all the pre-war cars was a 1934 Lea-Francis Ace of Spades, a top-quality touring car with an advanced 70bhp two-litre six-cylinder engine and unusual ‘Duo-gearbox’. One of only 26 made and the sole surviving example still fitted with its original Carbodies coachwork, it was in fine condition with a beautifully preserved interior and was a wonderful buy for someone at just over £9,000.
Mention should also be made of a charming 1937 Austin 7 Open Road Tourer which had been owned by one Shropshire family from new and is soon to start a new life in the very different landscape of Holland after being snapped up by another Dutch bidder for £5,600.
Early post-war cars also had a good day, a driver quality 1951 Sunbeam-Talbot 90 MkII DHC finding a willing buyer at £17,140 while a sympathetically restored 1957 Sunbeam MkIII Saloon with a genuine 33,800 miles on the clock made £12,320. A cute and quirky 1957 Nash Metropolitan Convertible which had been restored at a cost of £20k fetched a respectable £12,320. A 1949 MG TC and a rare 1953 MG TD/C looked solid buys at £11,870 and £11,200 respectively.
Big Healeys have become much more affordable of late, and a 1966 Austin-Healey 3000 MkIII BJ8 which had been restored to concours condition in the early-1990s found a buyer at £44,800. Other Sixties results of note included a lovely 1961 Rover P4 110 which fetched an impressive £10,300 while a usable and mechanically fit 1960 Armstrong Siddeley Star Sapphire made £9,130. A wonderfully original 1969 Morris Minor Two-Door Saloon with just 22,800 miles from new in the hands of a single family thoroughly deserved the £7,250 result – find another, as they say...
Bentley and Roll-Royce models from the 1960s/70s are temptingly good value at the moment, especially if you are prepared to settle for one in running order but with less than perfect cosmetics and history. A 1968 Bentley T1 Saloon with dull paintwork made £5,660 while a rather smarter 1969 example made £11,600 and a decent 1967 Mulliner Park Ward Coupe fetched £16,800. A 1978 Silver Wraith II with a few cosmetic issues looked like a lot of car for just £4,540.
Rather more modern was a Peacock Blue 1996 Bentley Azure with sensible 50k mileage and working electric hood but in need of some minor cosmetic TLC around the inner wheelarches. Attractively guided at £38k - £40k, the vendor accepted the high bid of £37,520.
No doubt rising fuel prices played some part here, and it was perhaps inevitable that a 1962 Ford Thunderbird Landau Sport Coupe (consigned with a £15k reserve before the Iran war hit the headlines) was going to struggle to find many takers willing to feed the thirsty carb-fed 6.4 V8 under the hood. As it turned out, this vendor also applied some ‘bird in the hand’ logic and chose to accept the high bid of a whisker under £9,000. Well bought? Only time will tell…
No such problems for the 2009 Ford Mustang Bullet though – with just one UK owner and under 3,000 miles from new it had a rather more efficient fuel-injected 4.6 V8 under the hood plus desirable manual transmission and had no trouble finding a buyer at £21,820.
With temperatures rising and the days growing longer, the season is about to enter its most lively phase and there are plenty of folk out there keen to buy a new toy for the upcoming summer shows. The next Brightwells auction will be on 13th May with a deadline for entries of 29th April but the sooner you get your vehicle entered, the more it will benefit from our extensive pre-sale marketing. So if you are thinking of selling, please don’t delay and do get in touch by calling 01568 611122 or by emailing [email protected] for a free, no obligation valuation.