The month that was February | Gavelled!
A Brabus SL, a former Esprit show car and an original RS4 - all helped to brighten up a miserable month
Brabus Mercedes-Benz SL (R230), 2002, 14.6k miles - sold for £45,024
How do you put a price on a car specially built for a friend of the CEO at the largest independent Mercedes tuner and with only two examples ever produced? That’s the situation the former owner of this Brabus Mercedes-Benz SL found themselves in, given the model wasn’t widely offered by the tuner and, consequently, there was naff all record of examples changing hands. The perfect candidate for an auction, then, and one that’d end up selling for considerably more than most R230 SLs currently available on the classifieds.
That’s probably because it’s packing the same 5.4-litre naturally-aspirated V8 as the very rare SLK 55 Black Series, which delivers a punchy 416hp. It’s also covered in Brabus visual upgrades, including a subtle body kit, massive monoblock alloys, lots of carbon fibre trim and the obligatory shot blasting of the company’s logo throughout the interior. It’s a marvellous thing that rightly drew a considerable amount of attention, racking up nearly 20,000 views and 230 saves over the two-week auction period. But the real number that matters is this: £45,024 including the buyer’s fee, with 106 bids accrued when the hammer fell. So if you’ve got an ultra-rare Brabus built for the mate of the firm’s CEO, you know where to find us…
Lotus Espirt V8 Twin Turbo, 1997, 81.9k miles - sold for £48,562*
You don’t often see V8 Twin Turbo Esprits come up for sale all that often. Lotus may have built over a thousand of them, but digging through the many entries for Esprits (there were swathes of specials) on HowManyLeft suggests only of fraction of those remain, with even fewer registered on the road. Somehow, we’ve had two pass through our auctions in a relatively short space of time, with a Mustard Metallic example going under the hammer in October last year and this Nautilus Blue Metallic car finding a new owner in Feb.
No Twin Turbo Esprit could be considered ordinary, and that’s especially true with this example. It was originally built to showcase all the changes for the 1997 model year, appearing on the stands at that year’s London Motor Show before serving as the company’s press car. Since then, it has been treated to tens of thousands in restoration work and upgrades, including new hybrid turbos and a suspension refurb. So it’s in fine fettle for its new owner, who’s parted with £48,562 including the buyer’s premium to get their hands on one of the most significant Esprits there is, let alone the one with the prettiest spec.
Audi RS4 (B5), 2001, 97.8k miles - sold for £21,708
The Audi RS4 as we know it is dead. Well, the badge is at least, because what’s replaced it, the RS5, actually sticks pretty close to the original. Both have sub-three-litre V6s with a brace of turbos strapped to them, both are vastly wider than the regular version, and both can be had in Avant form for greater dog carrying potential. In fact, the original B5 has a bigger boot than the new, hybrid RS5, and was only available with a six-speed manual gearbox. And because it’s the very starting point for now-dead RS4 lineage, they’re quickly becoming highly sought-after.
Especially ones as tidy as this. Okay, so it isn’t totally original, having been upgraded with a stainless steel exhaust system and Bilstein coilovers all round, nor has it been tucked away in a hermetically sealed garage in the hope that its value will skyrocket. Instead, its four former owners used and enjoyed it over 97,785 miles, with stacks of history suggesting it was well-cared for, too. So while it may be 25 years old and knocking on the door of six-figure mileage, this 2001 Avus Silver car mustered a strong £21,708 including the buyer’s premium. A great return on what’s fast becoming a modern classic - one that’s arguably more desirable than ever, given that its awkwardly-badged successor is bigger, heavier and far less practical.
Top 10 PistonHeads auction results in February*
- Porsche 911 (991.2) Turbo - sold for £69,680
- Lotus Esprit V8 Twin Turbo - £48,562
- Brabus Mercedes-Benz SL (R230) - £45,024
- Litchfield Toyota GR Yaris Circuit Pack - £38,592
- Bentley Continental W12 GT Speed - £30,000
- Lotus Exige S (S2) - £28,272
- Volkswagen Camper eDub - £24,695
- Morgan Plus 8 - £23,584
- Audi RS4 (B5) - £21,708
- Jaguar F-Type - £19,296
*Prices shown are inclusive of the buyer’s fee which is 6% of the selling price + VAT, with a minimum of £695 + VAT
That seems quite cheap in the grand scheme of things. Prices of these had been rising fast for a few years, and even though that’s not fully standard (very few are these days) I’d have thought it would make a bit more
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