Goodness, is it Goodwood time already? Yes, just over one week from now, the UK's greatest car event opens its doors to the 'right crowd'. And sure as the rain doth fall at Glastonbury, that also means plenty of the 'right cars' up for sale. Bonhams' Goodwood sale takes place on Friday June 26, with the usual mouthwatering selection of classics and exotics on offer. Here are my standout highlights.
Magic Mercs
The star of the sale is unquestionably a glorious 1998 Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR Roadster, one of only six ever made. It's pretty special in several ways: it's the only black one in the world, it's got just five miles on the clock and until last year it was owned by Mercedes-Benz itself in Stuttgart. Unsurprisingly, its upper estimate is set at a cool £1.8m.
Alongside it are the inevitable £1m Aston DB4 Convertible and a
300SL Roadster
which Bonhams reckons might see the soft-top overtake values for equivalent Gullwings. We'll see. Far cooler-looking in my book is the rather fabulous
1962 190SL Roadster
that's been converted to 'Rennsport' spec with lightweight aluminium panels, cute aero screens and a factory competition hardtop. Rather a lovely thing, and estimated at a rather more affordable £110,000.
Wacky racers
This being Goodwood, the Bonhams sale naturally has its fair share of competition machinery. Chief among these has to be a Porsche RS61 currently owned by Sir Stirling Moss. Not only does it look fantastic, it has a rich racing history and no doubt the still-present patina of Sir Stirling himself. You may well need deep pockets, though - deep to the tune of £2m, in fact, which is the upper estimate.
A similar sum is expected to be bid on a 1935 Aston Martin
Works Ulster LM19
that competed in the Mille Miglia, French Grand Prix and Le Mans.
Looking like it's going to offer easily the most fun of any car in the auction is a 1970 Porsche 911 converted to Safari-spec rally car by Francis Tuthill. Indeed, it actually finished fourth in the 2005 East African Safari, and has the distinction of having been tested by Jimmy McRae. Yours for as little as £70,000, reckons the auctioneer.
There are several other early road-going 911s up for grabs at well over £100K, and even a VW Camper for £100K! Since when did boggo VWs and 911s become more valuable than a Formula 1 car? Yes, for an estimated £90K you can have your own 1990 Williams-Renault FW13B, as raced by Thierry Boutsen and Riccardo Patrese and which finished third at the US Grand Prix.
And at the shallow end...
Looking for a bargain? Maybe a Rolls-Royce Phantom would fit the bill for £30,000? You what! With even the
cheapest Phantoms
in the PH classifieds going for £90K, why's it so criminally cheap? Turns out it's literally criminal. As well as being a
US-spec LHD car
it's ominously been recovered from crims, has no documents and is "sold strictly as viewed." Tread with caution on those Wilton rugs.
One final flight of fancy for you: Damon Hill's very own copy of the F1 Opus Champion's Edition book. Only 100 copies were ever printed, each one signed by every living F1 champion. There's no reserve, and all proceeds will go to the Halow Project charity.
[Source and photos: Bonhams]