Log in / RegisterHistorics’ Autumn Classic sale of 170 varied entries on Saturday 25th September – the 50th major sale since the Buckinghamshire auctioneer opening its doors in 2010 – returned an immensely robust result, despite the petrol ‘shortage’. At the close, 130 of 165 entries (withdrawals extracted) were sold, delivering a 79% sale rate and gross return of £3.4 million.
Petrol is one thing the new owner of the 1982 Lamborghini Countach 5000 S restoration won’t be worried about for a time… Indeed, it was very much ‘resto day’ with this, a 1975 Alfa Romeo Montreal, a 73 mile, unregistered 1980 TR8 Convertible and a 1936 Bentley Saloon by Hooper all selling strongly and ready for bringing back to their former glory.
- The petrol ‘shortage’ may have affected visitor numbers but there were some 1,000 visitors across all three viewing days and auction day, with a full auction hall throughout.
- 714 online bidder registrations were from 28 countries, and robust phone registration and bidding was a feature of the day.
- A major sale highlight was the 1982 Lamborghini Countach 5000 S restoration that drew very significant interest internationally. Competitive bidding in hall, by phone and online drove it up 43% above top estimate, selling at £257,600 gross.
- The 1980 TR8 was offered at no reserve and passed to a new owner for £28,000 gross. (Interestingly, a showroom condition example sold in the USA last year for $43,000.
- Indeed it is was a fine day for the Triumph marque, with 13 of the 14 entries finding new owners. Amongst these was a 1979 Triumph Dolomite Sprint that sold above estimate for £19,000 and of particular interest to Triumph enthusiasts, a 1973 Triumph GT6 Mk.III previously owned by Leo Villa, Chief Mechanic to Donald Campbell, again sold well over estimate for £22,400.
- A modern classic with a difference, the 2001 Bowler Wildcat 200, rumbled meaningfully to £54,880, promising much fun and off-road madness to its new owner.
- The supremely elegant 1955 AC Ace performed classically, finishing at a fine and well-deserved £213,920.
- At the other end of the price spectrum, a charming 1988 Citroen 2CV6 with an authenticated 4,000 miles since new was plucked from a private collection and made an over-estimate £16,800.
- Also in the elegance category and showing the model’s ascending value, a very fine 1989 BMW 635 CSi Highline with just 35,000 miles, made a very impressive £36,224 (est. £20,000-£25,000). Note that in 2017, Historics sold a very similar example, with 83,000 miles, for £18,760 gross and in April this year, a further example, again to Highline spec, passed to a new owner for £27,168.
- One of the other stars was a 1976 Alfa Romeo SZ in lovely condition that shot through its top estimate (£40,000-£45,000), settling at £53,000 gross.
- In not such splendid condition, another Alfa Romeo, this time a 1975 Alfa Romeo Montreal restoration project, didn’t disappoint at £43,680, against an estimate of £28,000-£38,000.
- Amongst what surely classifies as a bargain was a RHD 1989 Alfa Romeo 164 V6 with just 36,400 miles, with a ten-year storage slumber behind it. In lovely condition inside and out, it was offered at No Reserve and sold for £7,924.
- Online bidder registrations – from 28 countries – increased by 16% over the last sale. The High Street petrol issue is likely to have been responsible in some part for this increase, but the total remained well short of the 1,136 online bidder registrations for the April 2020 Historics sale, as pandemic measures took effect.
- 61 lots sold to online bidders, representing 47% of the sale total.
- Note that the online sale volume is yet to exceed 50% of total Historics sales at any auction, demonstrating the sustained enthusiasm for traditional sales channels amongst Historics followers with, notably, consistently high attendance in person. In value terms, 39% of hammer total was attributable to successful online bids at the 25th September sale.
Full results can be viewed at https://www.historics.co.uk/
Historics is now welcoming entries to its next major sale, at Mercedes-Benz World, on Saturday, 27th November