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Historics

18 April 2021

A number of strong results at Historics which might well reflect a lot of pent up demand with auction delays and restrictions now starting to ease. A 1966 Triumph Spitfire MK2 sold above estimate (£15,000 to £18,000) at £19,244. Interestingly this car was listed by a dealer earlier in the year for £12,500. MK2 Spitfires have weakened in price over the last two years, but it does seem that demand is returning. Demand for Mini Cooper's has never waned and a MK 1 Coopers S demonstrated that achieving £34,720, slightly above its top end estimate of £34,000. A modified 1968 Sunbeam Stiletto with a Rover K Series engine and a UNI gearbox made a surprising £19,244. It does seem that well done resto-mod classics are achieving very good prices. A 1982 Mercedes-Benz 280 TE Estate ‘Seven Seat’ which was very nice busted through its estimate of £13,000 - £18,000 to achieve £24,640. A 1979 Ford Escort Mk. II RS2000 Custom just managed to beat its top estimate at £33,040. We thought the £58,800 paid for a 14,500 mile 2001 Aston Martin Vanquish is cheap and in years to come will look to have been very well bought. A very low mileage (10,567 miles) 1995 Jaguar XJS Celebration Convertible achieved £44,800, well above its top estimate of £30,000. The big result was the £184,800 paid for a 1969 Mercedes-Benz 280 SL Pagoda which had been the subject of a 2 year £80,000 restoration and had only completed 350 miles since the restoration was finished. Prices of these cars do appear to be bouncing back after a period of weakness. A big surprise was the £23,520 paid for a 1963 Triumph Vitesse Convertible. The car was said to be a show winner and is a rare early single clock example. This is a record for a Vitesse and is likely to bring a flurry of cars to market, but we doubt the price achieved in this sale is likely to be repeated anytime soon. A 1973 Jaguar E-Type Series III Coupé 2+2 had a conservative estimate of £28,000 - £33,000 and that proved to be the case with a final price of £45,280 achieved for the car. A 1987 BMW M5 also did very well against its estimate of £28,000 - £33,000, going on to achieve £49,808. A 1979 Ford Capri MK. III 3.0S which had been fully restored with an estimate of £25,000 - £30,000 went on to achieve £36,400. It seems we are moving towards £40k series Capri's. Finally, a Riley RME which had been fully restored achieved £24,080 above its estimate of £18,000 to £22,000. This is a record result for an RME and shows that even early post war cars are still experiencing some significant price inflation if they are correct and have been restored well. So far in 2021 the classic car market appears to be in rude health.