CHASING CARS Russ Smith’s market analysis
Bonhams’ December double Holding two sales in the same week fails to impress the punters
B
onhams spread its wares thinly in December. Instead of staging one big event it offered 30 cars, including two ex-Beatles cars, at a ‘premium’ sale at its Bond Street HQ on December 2. This was followed four days later by more of a ‘bulk’ sale at Olympia with 86 cars on offer. Fewer than half the cars sold at Bond Street – but for fairness we’ve combined the results of both sales, though they’re still not that great with a sale rate barely over 55%. The Beatles’ cars were obviously the stars, but they failed to start a revolution, both selling just below mid-estimate – £1,345,500 for Macca’s DB5 and £102,300 for Ringo’s Mini. Away from the charts, the enthusiasm for Porsches and Ferraris remains suppressed and apart from the pair of outliers highlighted below, it’s no more than steady business with Fifties British sports cars. Will Bonhams do the same double-act this December?
SOLD ABOVE ESTIMATE
SOLD WITHIN ESTIMATE
27.6%
15.5% SOLD BELOW ESTIMATE
NOT SOLD
44.8%
12.1%
As you can see, a lot of would-be sellers took their cars home for Christmas
Mr Starkey’s Radford Mini helped Bonhams to avoid an embarassing home-turf loss
Market indicators Unrepeatability is one of the market’s biggest pulls – but only if the right punters are in the room
1992 Lancia Integrale Evo 1 £142,000 RM Sotheby’s, December 6, New York This incredible result might see a few Integrale owners visiting shipping agents’ websites. But though it might provide some boost to the market for them, this was an unrepeatable example. One of only 400 Giallo Ferrari editions, it was a highly original Italian-market car that’d done just 4030 miles. And it had novelty value because Evos have only just become eligible for US import under the 25-year rule.
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1983 Ford Escort RS1600i £32,200 Bonhams, December 6, London Olympia With just 164km (around 100 miles) from new, this was a proper collectors’ piece, albeit in lefthand drive because it was sold new in Norway. It’s been with the same owner since, too, so the provenance was impeccable. Condition was as you would expect – all original apart from the tyres. So the surprise here was that it didn’t make more, given the big numbers achieved by Silverstone for fast Fords at its NEC sale.
1960 Jaguar XK150S 3.8 fhc £186,300 Bonhams, December 2, Bond Street Just when you think the wind has gone out of the XK market, a result like this blows in to confound the pundits. Of course the 3.8S is the ultimate XK150, and with only 115 right-hook coupés made it has rarity on its side, but the £130-160k estimate had looked fair. Then again, find another as sharp with only 51k miles and original apart from a few discreet and well-chosen upgrades. There’s life in the old cats yet.