Aston Martin V8 - Yours For £6k At The FoS

PH Auction News: No, we didn't buy anything...

Six grand for this? Bargain of the century, surely...

As decades of motoring history screamed and bellowed their way up the hill outside, the big-money collectors and traders gathered in the auction room at the Festival of Speed to cross cheque books and fight it out for some pretty delectable machinery.

Silversixx - drunk on enthusiasm alone...

The bar in the Bonhams auction room at Goodwood was impeccably stocked and very popular, so popular in fact that when the first car - a 1972 Aston Martin V8 - was offered without reserve, the people standing round it barely looked up from their bubbling flutes of Veuve Clicquot, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the auction had started. That's the only way to explain how the Aston, which to be fair was a little on the ropey side but nevertheless 100 per cent complete, sold for just £5980 - and that's including the buyer's premium!

They all paid attention a few lots later when the ex-Patrick Collection Alfa Romeo SZ was offered. There had been a constant swarm of people around the car in the hours leading up to the auction and it was no surprise that a bidding war erupted. The hammer eventually fell at £37,800, making the Alfa SZ we looked at recently seem pretty good value at £29,995 although this one had done about 10,000 miles less. Eyebrows were raised when an Aston Martin DB5 with a top estimate of £90,000 sold for £230,000. The car was rough-but-complete and very similar to a car that sold recently at the Newport Pagnell auction for £250,000, which makes you wonder where they got the £90,000 estimate from...

Supercar lovers were well catered-for, first with a rare RHD, 17,400-mile, Diablo SV which looked like very good value at £67,500, then with a Ferrari F40 which sailed past its top estimate selling at £353,500, and a Porsche 959 which only just cleared its low estimate at £166,500. Oh and that pink Pagani Zonda? It made £320,500, which was seventy grand over what was another obviously conservative estimate.

Some of the fiercest bidding was seen when the Lancia Delta S4 Stradale and the Ford RS200 were offered. Bidding on the Delta sprinted to £80,000 and then crept slowly to a somewhat surprisingly low final figure of £100,500. The Ford on the other hand saw arguably the most brutal action with several bidders in the hall and on the phone all determined to make it their own. £126,900 was what the winner had to pay, which seems a bit odd when you think that in the same room and for less money was a successful Group B homologation car which was made in fewer numbers. Perhaps they thought the Lancia a little too challenging to behold?

I bumped into a trader there I know who was hoping to acquire some stock, and he told me that although there were several of his ilk in attendance, the private buyers were pushing them out of their financial comfort zones on the majority of the lots - the RS200 being a prime example.

Another one was an actual car that we showed you on PH recently. Remember the ex-Yasmin LeBon Alfa Romeo Montreal? That was in the classifieds for £25,000 - which I thought was top money - but it went for £31,050. The punch line being that since we featured it the MOT has expired! To think, you could have paid the asking price at the time and still made a good profit in the space of two months...

The star of the show? Well in terms of value it has to be the exquisite Aston Martin DB2/4 Drophead 'Bertone' which realised (you sitting down?) £606,500, although more heads were probably turned by the pink Zonda.

When the hammer fell for the last time the bar was almost dry, the auctioneers were exhausted, and several million pounds had changed hands. The overall impression was that there's no sign of any slowing-down in the classic/specialist/supercar market, but that values are very hard to estimate. Only about 60 per cent of the cars went for something like their estimates, the rest were either above or below - usually above.

There are, however, still some good-value buys out there, but if you're going to attend an auction do make sure that you're not still propping-up the bar when it kicks-off...

Below is a selection of other interesting lots with their prices and top estimate

1973 De Tomaso Pantera (upgraded to full GTS spec') £36,150 (est. £35,000)
1974 Ford Capri RS3100 £23,000 (est. £25,000)
1989 Aston Martin Vantage Volante £166,500 (est. £160,000)
1971 Ferrari 365GTC/4 £62,000 (est. £60,000)
1954 Bentley R-Type Continental (requiring 'completion') £298,500 (est. £150,000)
1994 Aston Martin Virage Volante £24,150 (est. £26,000)
1966 Jaguar E-Type S1 Roadster £67,500 (est. £60,000)
1987 Porsche 911 S-T 'evocation' £41,400 (est. £44,000)
1991 Ferrari 348ts £25,300 (est. £22,000)
1989 Ferrari 328GTS £47,700 (est. £35,000)
1969 Ford Mustang 'Shelby' GT500 £80,700 (est. £95,000)
1973 Datsun 240Z 'Super Samuri' £56,500 (est. £70,000)