Hopefully a horribly hackneyed cliche can be excused on a Monday morning. Maybe. But it really is hard to know where to begin with Silverstone Auctions' lot list for next month's classic motor show. Its focus is on a particularly immaculate
Lotus Sunbeam
but there is so much more besides.
Yep, less than 200 miles in 34 years
Said Talbot hatchback is an Italian car, recently released from a collection with just 313km (192 miles) on the odometer. Indeed it's never even been registered, meaning the first owner in the UK will be the Sunbeam's first registered owner in its 34-year life. The Embassy Black car goes to auction with a £24-£28,000 estimate.
Bit steep for a Lotus Sunbeam? Want a car to drive rather than preserve? This 1981 car has covered 68,000 miles but has recently been subject to a £20K restoration. Complete with a dyno-proven 150hp it has an estimate of £14-£16,000. Still not cheap, but have you not seen where fast RWD Escorts are at currently?
Conveniently Silverstone's auction at the Classic motor show has one of those too. Alright, so comparing an Escort Twin Cam with a Sunbeam may be a little mismatched but the Ford's guide is twice that of the Talbot's and looks cheap by Escort standards. Great colour though.
From one collection to another?
Anyway, enough of Lotus-engined rally cars. Also being sold are
a V8 Capri
familiar to PHers
, a beautifully presented
Datsun 240Z
with a few choices upgrades and the Sultan of Brunei's old
Jaguar XJ220
That's before you get to the usual selection of Minis, air-cooled Porsches and suchlike. It should be a fascinating auction. A few more gems from the lot list to finish on: this one-owner C4 Corvette ZR-1 looks fantastic value at £15-£20K and there's a barn find Aston V8 being offered without reserve for the brave. Finally, the story of this Rover SD1 is worth sharing. The original owner was disappointed at the trade-in offered on his Pharaoh Gold with 'dark chocolate' velour (!) Vanden Plas after 11 months, ergo parked the car up and drained the fluids. Until last year. One for the Rover collector!