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Mixed results at Historics

08 March 2020

Historics sale yesterday at Ascot produced a mixture of results which suggest some areas of the market remain weak whilst others still have a relatively strong following. The appetite for early E-Types or certainly big ticket early E-Types is certainly weakening. One example which on paper looked quite nice was a 1964 Coupe which achieved £64,960 against its estimate of £78,000 to £88,000. Go back five or so years and these cars were consistently making over £100k, they have certainly dropped from the heady days. That said a Series 3 Roadster which looked exceptional made well over £120k. Another Series 1 E-Type in 2+2 form made a very good £43,016 which isn't that far off the pace of a Series 1 two seater coupe. Fast Fords are still in Vogue with a Series 3 Capri 3.0S smashing its estimate of £12,000 to £16,000 to make £23,772. However a Sierra XR4i, and Ford Escort RS2000 failed to find new homes although a Ford Escort XR3 went on to make a strong £17,920. A Lotus Cortina MK1 also did well at £46,412 which was at the bottom end of its estimate. A no reserve AC 2 Litre which could well have been a bargain went on to make full money at £11,760. Whilst there were a good number of no sales and undoubtedly a higher number than what Historics normally end up with, there was still strong demand for correct cars and especially low mileage cars, one such example being a 1985 Peugeot 205 GTi (1.6 Litre) with 32,300 miles on the clock which made £19,244. Another good result was the £112,000 paid for a Mercedes 190SL in left hand drive form, £2,000 above its top estimate this is strong money for one of these cars. We still remember the days not that many years ago when you could pick one of these up for £25k! We think the results from this sale show that the enthusiasm for big tickets cars continues to wane unless they are very correct and the major enthusiasm is at the bottom end where budget cars continue to find ready homes among enthusiasts.