Griffith 500 at Auction 05/03/20
Discussion
I attended the Brightwells classic car auction yesterday. The blue 1997 Griff received a top bid of £14,500 (there would have been 14.4% on top of this if accepted; that's 12% 'premium' plus VAT!) :
https://www.brightwells.com/lot-details/100012276
The guide price had been £19k - £21k, which may have been a bit high with the cars all sold static, but I'd expected higher bids.
It appeared to be in great condition and a very good car. No pas may have put a few off but the sales overall were subdued. Brexit? Coronavirus? E10 fuel? Not sold, unsurprisingly. The seller could sell it private for much more I'd have thought, and not have to pay the auction house 5% commission + VAT !
Pleas don't shoot the messenger, I'm reporting what I saw. I think these cars seem undervalued again, perhaps the debacle in South Wales is more widely known now?
https://www.brightwells.com/lot-details/100012276
The guide price had been £19k - £21k, which may have been a bit high with the cars all sold static, but I'd expected higher bids.
It appeared to be in great condition and a very good car. No pas may have put a few off but the sales overall were subdued. Brexit? Coronavirus? E10 fuel? Not sold, unsurprisingly. The seller could sell it private for much more I'd have thought, and not have to pay the auction house 5% commission + VAT !
Pleas don't shoot the messenger, I'm reporting what I saw. I think these cars seem undervalued again, perhaps the debacle in South Wales is more widely known now?
Edited by V8fan on Thursday 5th March 09:26
The top bid at £14,500 was so far below the guide price, I expected it to be 'not sold.' Over 30% were unsold.
Some cars did sell after being provisional sales (the E34 BMW M5 for example reached £12,500 in bidding but is showing as 'sold' for £14k. So this includes some discounted buyers premium for the auctioneers, it's too round a figure to include the full 12%)
My last Chimaera I found a handful with no pas, and the Griff 500 has even wider front tyres. I even considered pricing in aftermarket pas, who knows, I may have won it with a £15k bid, but with the buyers premium and VAT, this would have been £17,160 for car I've not even had a test drive in. Some cars did sell for well below the 'guide' prices so you're right, it's hard to know how close it was to selling without knowing the reserve price.
Some cars did sell after being provisional sales (the E34 BMW M5 for example reached £12,500 in bidding but is showing as 'sold' for £14k. So this includes some discounted buyers premium for the auctioneers, it's too round a figure to include the full 12%)
My last Chimaera I found a handful with no pas, and the Griff 500 has even wider front tyres. I even considered pricing in aftermarket pas, who knows, I may have won it with a £15k bid, but with the buyers premium and VAT, this would have been £17,160 for car I've not even had a test drive in. Some cars did sell for well below the 'guide' prices so you're right, it's hard to know how close it was to selling without knowing the reserve price.
I'm a regular visitor to Historics auction and a significant percentage of cars were selling for below lower estimate last year. Can't imagine anything changing this year unless guide prices come down a lot.
I don't think TVR's generally do very well at auction; most dealers outside of the specialists tend to avoid them and most private buyers want comfort that a specialist dealer gives them.
I don't think TVR's generally do very well at auction; most dealers outside of the specialists tend to avoid them and most private buyers want comfort that a specialist dealer gives them.
The engine bay pics don't show it as a very good car, looks unloved. Some t*at has jet washed the paint off the rockers, and only half done the wishbones. has it been crashed? Suspicious looking sharpie writing on the chassis, it's odd that the expansion bottle mount is rusting, mine is nearly the same age being a 96 aluminium not steel. Looks OK for the outside, there will be better ones out there at this price range.
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