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Classic Car Auctions

10 December 2022

The last major sale of the year took place yesterday at CCA at the Warwickshire Event Centre. There were no major price surprises which is down to the time of year and the fact that the macroeconomic backdrop has never been quite as poor as it currently is unless you go back to the credit crisis. Prices are dipping across many classics at the moment and if you are a buyer there has never been a better time to grab a bargain. The results of note are the £30,375 paid for a 1998 Mercedes-Benz S500 Brabus (W140), the car being modified by Brabus and having just 31,000 miles on the clock propelled it to something if a premium for one of these. Interestingly at the moment demand for large Mercedes saloons of the 80s is on the up and we think this is simply due to amazing build quality giving you a classic that can be used daily if need be, but also a classic for family outings. Fast Ford prices are on the wane, which is not that unexpected given the crazy heights they reached. This was clear in the £39,938 paid for a 1987 Ford Capri 280 Brooklands with just 2,960 miles from new. Yes it was a premium but go back two years and this one would have been £50k plus with that mileage. We haven't seen the car so we cannot make a qualified statement on this, and this one did need recommissioning and had an untidy engine bay, but this almost looks cheap compared to historic prices paid. Interestingly a 196 mile MGB Roadster albeit with a rubber bumper failed to sell and is now advertised at £18k on the CCA website. A very nice 1969 Morris Mini Mk2 Super Deluxe which had been with the same family for 46 years did very well with a price of £19,125. Another notable no sale was a 1961 Morris Minor Million - No. 179 of 350 which is now advertised at £32,000 on the CCA website. Another good example of softening prices was the £36,000 paid for what appears to be a nice 1973 Jaguar E-Type Series 3 V12 Coupé which also had the more desirable manual gearbox. Not that long ago this would have been more like £45k. If you want more evidence of falling classic car prices the £12,938 paid for a very nice looking 1961 Austin Healey Frogeye Sprite is evidence enough. We do not know from the narrative if the car has a steel bonnet or matching numbers engine, but a nice example three years ago would have commanded the best part of £20k, which makes this £13k price look very reasonable indeed. Another low mileage fast Ford in the sale was a 1988 Ford Escort XR3i with just 2,849 miles from new and that achieved £21,375. Fast Fords might be on the wane price wise but people are now latching onto other models which have not experienced the price appreciation but were competing with the Fords at the time. One such model is the Vauxhall Astra GTE MK1 and this sale included one such example which had been prepared by Mike and Elvis on Wheeler Dealers.It went on to make £25,650.