It's the easiest thing in the world to be overcome with that indefinable idle wistfulness while browsing through an auction catalogue. And flicking through the Silverstone Auctions lot listing for The Restoration Show at the NEC on March 28, I've let it happen again. I've found my imagination being fired by the tantalising prospect of what you could have with a budget of £30K to blow. Specifically: a whole smorgasbord of eye-catching junior exotics.
Not perfect, but certainly tempting
None more so than a searingly yellow
Ferrari 456 GT
, which perhaps shouldn't appeal, but really does. One of the last Ferraris that's resolutely refused to appreciate, the 456 GT is now surely a dead-cert 'grower' in the near future. For evidence, look no further than the 400-mile 456M that sold recently for (gulp) £118,125.
When it was new, the 456 was a £180K, 190mph, V12 thoroughbred. So the sight of a glorious yellow (Giallo Modena) manual example, with only one owner and 31,000 miles for an estimate of just £28,000 - £32,000 had my eyes popping out of their sockets.
Sadly, this 456 is not an unsullied field of golden daffodils: it's a left-hooker Japanese import with a patchy history, and an interior in a shade of blue that's best described as 'brave'. Still, mighty tempting...
Low miles and a low price? Must be a Mondial!
As is another prancing horse - this one a 12,000-mile Ferrari valued at a mere £30K. There is in fact only one model from Maranello that these statistics could possibly apply to: the unloved old
Mondial
. Even today, nobody likes a Mondi it seems, but for £28,000 this immaculate example will surely sway some opinions. It's a 1987 car and looks absolutely stunning in Rosso Corsa with Crema leather.
But personally, if I were in the market for a four-seater Ferrari, it'd be this 1974 308 GT4 at an estimated £30,000. Bertone's wedge profile is finally being appreciated by the Spangles 'n' Space Hopper generation (so my era), and GT4 values are rising fast. It's not just the shape either: one Ferrari specialist I know reckons it's the best mid-engined classic Ferrari to drive by a country mile. The sale car is an older restoration but looks to be in fine nick.
Braces and filofax at the ready!
Plenty of Porsches are up for auction at the NEC, too, many set to sell at below my £30K price point. You might not expect to find a 993 at that price - they've been on a rapidly accelerating trajectory of late - but they're still achievable at reasonable prices, just. Two Tiptronics pique my interest, a
1995 coupe
at £28,000 - £32,000 and a
1996 Targa
at £25K-£30K. Neither is in concours condition ("scope for aesthetic improvements" is the auction jargon I believe), but both seem eminently usable.
It'll also need to be one of the less-favoured versions of the 930 to come in below £30K these days. For instance, this 1981 911 SC Targa, with optional Sport Pack and in fab-looking Grand Prix White, appeals at an estimated £30,000.
Haven't Aston DB9s become very cheap all of a sudden? This
2005 DB9 coupe
has an estimate of only £26K-£30K. For a 450hp V12 capable of 190mph with less than 50,000 clicks on the clock, that's got to be good going, although worryingly this car has a couple of rust spots on the door and bonnet.
Another English jewel long overdue for an uplift in value is the Bentley Continental R. If this 1997 example goes for its lower estimate of £30,000, it'll be a bargain for someone - especially as it sparkles in Peacock Blue with Sandstone leather, and has just 57,800 miles from new.
I can't resist one peculiar NEC post-script: a 1969 Rover P5B Coupe converted into a caravanette, offered with no reserve. According to the auctioneer, it's recently been "treated to new wallpaper". Pure class.